Half of Gulf oil, gas shut in as systems undergo Ike repairs

[peejay 327]

Half of Gulf oil, gas shut in as systems undergo Ike repairs

By KRISTEN HAYS

Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

Oct. 3, 2008, 11:41PM

Three weeks after Hurricane Ike came ashore, nearly half of the Gulf of Mexico's oil and gas production remains shut in as pipelines and gas processing plants undergo repairs.

The Interior Department's Minerals Management Service, which regulates oil and gas activity in the Gulf, said Friday that 48.2 percent of oil production and 44.6 percent of natural gas output remains shut in, meaning valves below the seabed are shut to block the flow.

Agency spokesman Bill Lee acknowledged that platform operators in the affected areas stand ready to ramp up production, particularly deep-water installations that largely emerged unscathed from Ike with no significant damage.

Ike's storm surge destroyed 52 smaller platforms closer to shore that were producing a combined 13,300 barrels of oil and 90 million cubic feet of gas per day, a fraction of the Gulf's normal output of 1.3 million barrels of oil and 7.4 billion cubic feet of gas.

Another 73 platforms sustained extensive to moderate damage, but the Minerals Management Service has yet to release details on those structures.

The only significant deep-water damage reported so far was the loss of the derrick on the drilling rig atop BP's Mad Dog platform 190 miles south of New Orleans.

But some pipeline systems that needed to bring output to shore remain shut down for post-storm repairs, as do five of 39 onshore natural gas processing plants that were in Ike's path.

Rick Rainey, spokesman for Enterprise Products Partners, said Friday that the worst damage the company found among its Gulf pipeline systems was a severed 42-inch diameter segment of the High Island Offshore System. Engineers don't know how it was severed, Rainey said.

That system, in about 130 feet of water, transports gas from various fields in the western Gulf. Rainey said the company expects it to be repaired and back in service by late November.

The Williams Cos. also is continuing damage assessments to its offshore pipelines.

Its Discovery system in 250 feet of water south of Louisiana is undergoing repairs, but the company has no estimate of when it will be up and running, spokesman Jeff Pounds said.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headli...iz/6039282.html

[IAMX 3,055]

Sux for people in hurricane alley. Some family out in Dalton, Georgia was complaining about not being able to find any gas.

Thankfully we're sitting pretty out here in California. Not that I wouldn't mind a little more pressure on demand to get alternative energy vehicles on the market.

[peejay 327]

Sux for people in hurricane alley. Some family out in Dalton, Georgia was complaining about not being able to find any gas.

Thankfully we're sitting pretty out here in California. Not that I wouldn't mind a little more pressure on demand to get alternative energy vehicles on the market.

As soon as they got the electricity going there was plenty of gasoline for sale around Houston. The price wasn't so bad as I thought it would be either. Price gouging was kept to a minimum due to the Texas attorney general's office warning repeatedly on TV that there are stiff civil penalties for such behavior in the state statutes.

Since the USA imports 70% of our oil the disruption in US Gulf oil production will have a minimal impact, but it will have an impact.

I keep up with this stuff because I work out on the Gulf. The facility I work on received major damage. One structure is leaning and most likely will have to be removed and replaced before production resumes. This will take months to repair.

[Ban Hammer 14,281]

Sux for people in hurricane alley. Some family out in Dalton, Georgia was complaining about not being able to find any gas.

Thankfully we're sitting pretty out here in California. Not that I wouldn't mind a little more pressure on demand to get alternative energy vehicles on the market.

As soon as they got the electricity going there was plenty of gasoline for sale around Houston. The price wasn't so bad as I thought it would be either. Price gouging was kept to a minimum due to the Texas attorney general's office warning repeatedly on TV that there are stiff civil penalties for such behavior in the state statutes.

Since the USA imports 70% of our oil the disruption in US Gulf oil production will have a minimal impact, but it will have an impact.

I keep up with this stuff because I work out on the Gulf. The facility I work on received major damage. One structure is leaning and most likely will have to be removed and replaced before production resumes. This will take months to repair.

hey get back to work, vj needs cheap gasoline!