While weak shoulder month gas demand minimized the market impact of Hurricane Lili and Tropical Storm Isidore, the two storms did cut substantial 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 (MMS).

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 (see Daily GPI, Oct. 17).

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