Equinor has evacuated staff and shut its Titan oil and gas platform in the Gulf of Mexico ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Rafael. Major producer, Chevron, is suspending production at the facilities it operates, and has been transporting staff to shore. But it didn't identify which platforms it was shutting.
On Tuesday, BP said it had taken steps to secure offshore sites and remove some non-essential personnel from its Argos, Atlantis, Mad Dog, Na Kika and Thunder Horse platforms. Shell said on Monday that it had begun removing non-essential staff from its Appomattox, Vito, Ursa, Mars, Auger, and Enchilada/Salsa assets, and paused some drilling operations. Today, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement reported that about 17% of oil production and around 7% of gas output has been suspended in the GOM.
Rafael’s track has changed over the past 24 hours. In an update Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) showed the storm now headed west, and away from Louisiana. Rafael is forecast to become a major hurricane as it heads for western Cuba. But it’s expected to steadily lose intensity before downgrading into a tropical storm this weekend.
Closer to the U.S. Gulf Coast, the Coast Guard for Sector Houston-Galveston has begun issuing advisories to mariners operating in the area to prepare ahead of Rafael. In an alert Wednesday, the agency said it was receiving reports of 20-25 knot winds, with gusts up to 30 knots, and 2-3 foot seas in the lower Houston Ship Channel and Galveston Bay, waterways that are key to the oil and gas industry.
