El Paso Corp. said about 80 MMcfe/d of its Gulf of Mexico production shut in during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita will not come back online until the first quarter of 2006. Net production offshore totaled 205 MMcfe/d prior to Katrina and 170 MMcfe/d before Rita.

Net production currently totals 64 MMcfe/d, and output is expected to continue to increase through the rest of the year, El Paso said. Production levels in the Gulf are expected to be about 90 MMcfe/d by Nov. 1 and “will approach” 115-120 MMcfe/d by Dec. 1. About 40 MMcfe/d currently shut in is operated by other companies.

The company also noted initial production from two recent discoveries, West Cameron blocks 75 and 62, may be delayed into early 2006 because of storm damage affecting a third-party pipeline and processing facilities.

In the Texas Gulf Coast and Arklatex areas onshore, damage from Hurricane Rita to third-party processing facilities initially impacted approximately 60 MMcfe/d. Repairs to these facilities have been completed, and the shut-in production is back on stream, El Paso said.

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