66% Of Gulf Of Mexico Oil Production Still Offline On Friday

The largest deepwater crude oil terminal in the United States has reopened in full after Hurricane Ida struck force a closure, a spokesperson said on Friday, according to Reuters.

The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port has been closed since August 28 in anticipation of Hurricane Ida.

But while LOOP LLC is back in business, 65 (11.61%) Gulf of Mexico platforms remain evacuated, and 66.36% of all Gulf of Mexico oil production remains offline—or 1.2 million barrels per day. 75.55% of all natural gas production also remains shut-in as of Friday, according to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE).

Oil production in the United States was seriously affected last week, sinking to just 10 million barrels per day—a level not seen since February.

Hurricane Ida is the worst hurricane that the U.S. offshore industry has seen in the Gulf of Mexico in 16 years, when Hurricane Katrina disrupted oil production on some level for many months, according to Zerohedge.

But Hurricane Ida has caused the largest-ever initial loss of crude oil production that the GoM producers have ever see.

Although LOOP reports that it is open, Refinitiv Eikon vessel tracking data shows no vessels docked in port on Friday. However, there is one VLCC, bound for Asia, waiting to load crude oil.

Royal Dutch Shell declared a force majeure on numerous contracts on Thursday, canceling some export cargoes after Mars offshore facilities were damaged.  At least two of the cargoes that were canceled were destined for China.

Additional VLCCs, including from China, are headed to LOOP for crude loadings for this month.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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