Cumulative gas production shut-ins onshore and offshore Texas and Louisiana are nearly 300 Bcf since hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck, Colorado-based consulting firm Bentek Energy reported Thursday. However, gas production from the Gulf Coast finally has risen to nearly 8 Bcf/d compared to about 13.8 Bcf/d prior to the hurricanes.

Bentek said 5,857 MMcf/d of Gulf production remains shut in offshore and onshore, which is about 572 MMcf/d less than what was reported on Monday, indicating a slow but steady return of production as operators bring back damaged platforms and pipelines and power is restored to processing plants in South Louisiana. The Minerals Management Service (MMS) reported on Wednesday that 5,919.36 MMcf/d of offshore Gulf production was shut in. MMS releases its shut-in statistics at 1 p.m. CDT.

Bentek, which bases its estimates on scheduled gas production receipts on major pipeline systems, reported 5,712 MMcf/d of shut-ins onshore and offshore Louisiana on Thursday and only 145 MMcf/d of shut-ins onshore and offshore Texas. The company said a data glitch on Northern Natural’s bulletin board on Wednesday led to an erroneous estimate that more production was flowing onshore and offshore Texas than had been seen pre-Katrina.

About 3,468 MMcf/d of Texas gas production was scheduled to flow on Thursday compared to 3,613 MMcf/d on Aug. 26. Total scheduled gas production in the entire region on Thursday rose to 7,964 MMcf/d compared to 13,820 MMcf/d on Aug. 26.

Bentek reported to following Louisiana production shut-ins by pipeline: Southern Natural (837 MMcf/d); Transco (525); Tennessee (1,722); Destin (36); Sea Robin (386 MMcf/d, no production scheduled to flow); Florida Gas (no production shut in; 79 MMcf/d more production scheduled to flow than on Aug. 26); Trunkline (26); Texas Eastern (389); Mississippi Canyon (511; no production scheduled); Columbia Gulf (298); Garden Banks (97); Gulf South (73); High Island (270; no production scheduled); Stingray (183; no production scheduled); Nautilus (6); Chandeleur (57); Sabine (10); Gulfstream (35); and 219 MMcf/d is shut in upstream of the Venice area.

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