Chevron Prepares To Shut Down Gulf Platforms Ahead Of Storm

Chevron is preparing to shut down two platforms in the Gulf of Mexico ahead of a Tropical Depression that could develop into a major storm, the company said, as quoted by Reuters. The platforms are Petronius and Blind Faith.

Tropical Depression 16 is currently in the southwest Caribbean, according to the Weather Channel, and is bringing heavy rains to Central America. If the depression is upgraded to a storm or a hurricane, it will be called Nate and, the Weather Channel warns, it is getting increasingly likely that it will make landfall along the northern part of the Gulf Coast on Sunday.

The Petronius platform is located about 130 miles southeast of New Orleans, at the same-name field, which holds an estimated 80-100 million barrels of oil equivalent. Production began in 1995, with Chevron operating the field in partnership with Marathon. There are ten producing wells at the site.

The Blind Faith platform is Chevron’s deepest, standing 160 miles southeast of New Orleans, in water depths of 7,000 feet. The Blind Faith field was discovered in 2001 and its reserves are estimated at up to 100 million barrels of oil equivalent. The project has cost Chevron US$900 million.

In September, Hurricane Harvey, the worst storm so far this season, caused the shutdown of several hundred thousand barrels in daily production in the Gulf of Mexico. At the height of the storm, on August 26, production shutdowns reached over 400,000 bpd, according to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.

Chevron produced an average 128,000 bpd of crude oil in deepwater Gulf of Mexico last year, plus 87 million cu ft of natural gas. In the same year, it acquired 10 new deepwater leases in the area. Recently, French Total joined the supermajor as partner on the development of 16 blocks in the GoM under a farm-in agreement.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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