While weak shoulder month gas demand minimized the market impact of Hurricane Lili and Tropical Storm Isidore, the two storms did cut substantially volumes of gas and oil production in the Gulf of Mexico and on Friday continued to have an impact, with 670 MMcf/d of gas and 105,000 b/d of crude oil production remaining curtailed, according to the Minerals Management Service.

From Sept. 23 through Friday, more than 14.4 million bbl of oil and 88.9 Bcf of gas were unavailable for U.S. consumption because of the shutdown of operations in the Gulf due to the two storms, MMS said. Isidore forced the shut in of 4.5 million bbl of oil and 27.5 Bcf of gas, and the much more intense Lili forced 9.9 million bbl of oil and 61.5 Bcf of gas to be taken off the market through Friday.

However, the storms did very little damage. Only six platforms, out of 800 subjected to the full force of Lili earlier this month, sustained severe damage.

“In general the extent of the damage to the infrastructure is not significant,” MMS Director Johnnie Burton said, attributing the low amount of damage compared to previous storms in part to stricter MMS standards for platform durability. Lili was a Category 4 hurricane with 145 mph winds when it passed through the production area. It lost intensity, dropping to a Category 2, just before going ashore.

“The infrastructure that’s out there has really improved [since Hurricane Andrew in 1992],” MMS spokesman Barney Congdon said recently. “We had a lot of old platforms out there when Andrew hit, but many of those were wiped out and replaced. We’ve also had quite a few revisions since then in structural analysis qualifications when new platforms go in.

“Lili went through a busy area right up the middle, but I think the offshore damage was pretty insignificant compared to the onshore damage. We were expecting a lot more damage going in but it just really wasn’t there.”

Burton noted that there were no fatalities or injuries to offshore workers, no fires, and no major pollution caused by the hurricane. “Considering that there were more than 25,000 workers evacuated, and that 800 structures were located in the direct path of Lili during the most intense period of the storm, it is remarkable that the impact to this important domestic energy production infrastructure was quite limited,” she said

The six seriously damaged platforms were more than 20 years old. One platform on Eugene Island Block 275A, owned by TotalFinaElf which was 38 years old and in the process of being removed, was toppled in place. A 33-year old Forest Oil platform on Eugene Island Block 309 was discovered completely submerged. BP’s Platform A on Eugene Island Block 322 was damaged beyond repair. There are over 4,000 offshore facilities operating in federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico.

There were nine reports of oil spills, eight of them less than three barrels each. About a third of the oil from one 350 barrel spill was recovered and the MMS is investigating the incident. Four drilling rigs were severely damaged, one, the Ocean Lexington, lost its moorings and was sent adrift; two others, the Rowan Houston and Dolphin 105, were toppled. The three were in Ship Shoal area. A Reading Bates rig, RBF204 in the Main Pass area was left leaning.

MMS said one of the meteorological buoys it funds was in the direct path of Hurricane Lili and provided critical data to weather forecasters during the storm. The Buoy 42041, located 150 miles offshore New Orleans, was about 15 miles from the eye of the hurricane and measured 145 mph winds.

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