Another 10% of the Gulf of Mexico’s (GOM) usual natural gas production began to flow over the weekend, but 65.5% remained shut in more than a week after Hurricane Ike struck the region, the Minerals Management Service (MMS) stated Monday.

The GOM’s gas production was averaging 7.4 Bcf/d in July. However, Hurricane Gustav struck the region early this month to be followed less than two weeks later by Hurricane Ike, which made landfall Sept. 13 in Galveston, TX. On Friday about 75% of the gas output from offshore was shut in. MMS also reported that 76.6% of the GOM oil output remained shut in Monday; estimated output in June was 1.3 million b/d.

Louisiana’s producers have restored 437 MMcf/d, or 27%, of the state’s gas production capacity, which is 1,642 MMcf/d, the Department of Natural Resources said. The estimated amount of shut-in gas production is 891 MMcf/d; the status of the remaining 312 MMcf/d has not been confirmed.

Of the 717 manned production platforms in the GOM, 31%, or 225, remained evacuated. Ike destroyed 49 production platforms, mostly along the Outer Continental Shelf offshore Louisiana, according to MMS. Personnel from seven rigs also remained evacuated; this is equivalent to 5.8% of the 121 rigs now operating offshore.

Eleven of 26 major natural gas pipelines in the Gulf Coast area continued to report a complete shut-in of their facilities Monday. Portions of the most of the other gas pipes remained at reduced gas flows because of Ike, the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Electricity Delivery & Energy Reliability reported in the latest situation report.

Since returning to service on Sept. 14, the Independence Hub platform, the largest gas producer in the GOM deepwater, has averaged more than 0.83 Bcf/d of gas production. The hub, which connects to the Independence Trail pipeline system, represents 12% of offshore GOM output. Production in July averaged more than 800 MMcf/d.

Besides the shut-in gas offshore and pipeline problems, eight of 39 total natural gas processing plants with total operating capacity of 5.08 Bcf/d remained shuttered along the Gulf Coast, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Twenty-two plants had resumed operations at reduced or normal levels with a total operating capacity of 8.73 Bcf/d. Eight plants also are capable to restart (totaling 3.65 Bcf/d operating capacity) once power is restored and/or upstream gas flow are sufficient, the EIA stated.

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