Isidore, downgraded today from a Tropical Storm to a Tropical Depression, has taken as much as 4.5 million bbl of oil and 25 Bcf of natural gas off the U.S. market during the three-day shutdown of oil and gas operations on the Gulf of Mexico outer continental shelf (OCS), the Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) estimated Thursday.

The estimate came as Isidore moved inland in Mississippi and platform crews began returning to the Gulf. Anadarko Petroleum, BP, Phillips and Conoco were among those saying they had started to re-staff their platforms. More were expected to go back out Thursday night and Friday, and production Saturday is expected to be nearly normal.

The storm was carrying maximum sustained winds of 35 mph as of 5 p.m. EDT Thursday with the center located about 50 miles north-northeast of Jackson, MS. Isidore was moving north at about 25 mph and could begin to move faster, according to the National Hurricane Center.

The MMS’s Thursday afternoon shut-in update appeared to show a massive restoration of more than 10 Bcf/d in offshore supplies, but the agency said its numbers from Wednesday were overstated due to reporting errors. Instead of the 13.5 MMcf/d in outages reported for Wednesday, the revised MMS estimate was only 8.5 Bcf/d. The total for Thursday was the same, 8.5 Bcf/d. MMS also said 705,292.5 bbl/d of oil was still offline and that 131 platforms and 25 drilling rigs remained evacuated.

MMS said the industry’s latest reports indicate that about 95% of crude oil and 60% of natural gas production from offshore federal lands has been shutdown since Wednesday.

“The amount affected is so large because production from the Gulf of Mexico OCS currently accounts for more than 25% of domestic oil and natural gas production” said Walter Cruickshank, MMS Deputy Director.”This demonstrates the extraordinary importance of Federal OCS production in the Gulf of Mexico to the U.S. economy.”

©Copyright 2002 Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. The preceding news report may not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, in any form, without prior written consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.