Chevron has begun to redeploy personnel and restore production at its Gulf of Mexico (GOM) oil and gas platforms that were shut-in for Hurricane Rafael.
The storm has weakened significantly, and basically dissipated, according to the National Hurricane Center (see map below). Still, the NHC has warned of life-threatening surf and rip current conditions along portions of the Gulf Coast through Monday. The agency is now monitoring another weather disturbance off the Dominican Republic, marked with a X below.
Meanwhile, in an update Monday, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) said 26% of GOM crude production and 13% of gas output are shut. Rafael had shut as much as 28% of GOM oil and 17% of gas output last week. GOM fields produce a variety of crude oils, including Mars Blend, a regional sour crude benchmark, which can replace some grades from OPEC producers like Saudi Araba.
Rafael is the 17th named storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season. The storm season runs officially from June 1 through November 30, and this year’s has seen five major storms make landfall on the USGC (see Drill Down report Brave).
