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Home Fossil Energy Oil firms evacuate workers as storm Cindy hits Gulf of Mexico

Oil firms evacuate workers as storm Cindy hits Gulf of Mexico

June 21, 2017

U.S. Offshore operators are closely watching the Tropical storm Cindy that has formed in the Gulf of Mexico, leading to some oil companies to evacuate personnel.

According to Dallas News, Enbridge has evacuated non-essential workers from two Gulf platforms. The news website says BP has evacuated non-essential personnel as well.

In a statement on Tuesday, Anadarko said it had completed the removal of  non-essential personnel from the Gulf of Mexico, “and all of our operated facilities remain operational at this time.”

The company said it was continuing to monitor the weather system as it moves through the Gulf and was prepared to shut in its operated facilities if necessary.

Shell, on the other hand, is not evacuating.

The company said: “As a precautionary measure, we have taken steps to secure our assets in the Gulf of Mexico. Personnel will remain offshore and we have suspended all offshore flights from heliports located in Central Louisiana. Some well operations have been suspended and production is currently unaffected… All of our floating deep-water production hubs are designed to safely withstand hurricane force conditions.

Louisiana Offshore Oil Port suspended the vessel offloading operations on Tuesday at the LOOP Marine Terminal and will remain idle until the conditions are favorable to safely resume operations.

The National Hurricane Center’s latest update shows the Tropical Storm Cindy is located a couple of hundred miles south of the central Louisiana coast.

Tropical cyclone formation is not expected during the next 5 days, the NHC said.

The NHC said Cindy is expected to produce total rain accumulations of 6 to 9 inches with isolated maximum amounts of 12 inches over southeastern Louisiana, southern Mississippi, southern Alabama, and the Florida Panhandle through Thursday. This rainfall could cause life-threatening flash flooding in these areas.

Rainfall amounts of 3 to 5 inches with isolated maximum amounts of 6 inches can be expected farther west across southwest Louisiana into southeast Texas through Thursday.

Offshore Energy Today Staff