With a projected path eerily similar to last season’s devastating Hurricane Ivan, Tropical Storm Arlene on Thursday, although still far weaker than Ivan with only 40 mph winds, already was prompting producers to exit the eastern and central Gulf of Mexico in rapid fashion.

The Minerals Management Service (MMS) reported that nonessential personnel already had been evacuated from six platforms and two rigs by Thursday afternoon. No production shut ins had been reported Thursday. Many more evacuations were expected on Friday and shut-ins undoubtedly will take place if the storm gains strength and forces full evacuations.

BP, Chevron, Murphy, Anadarko and others reported moving personnel out of the central and eastern Gulf as a precaution Thursday. Other producers, such as Apache, ExxonMobil and Total, were gearing up to begin evacuations on Friday. Total said it expected to begin shutting in production Friday.

“To ensure the safety of our offshore workers, we have evacuated nonessential personnel from our deepwater facilities in the eastern Gulf of Mexico,” said BP spokeswoman Ayana McIntosh-Lee. “There is no impact to production.”

Murphy said it was removing nonessential workers from the Medusa and Front Runner deepwater platforms. Anadarko personnel were leaving the Marco Polo field.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said at 5 p.m. Thursday that Arlene had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph, essentially unchanged all day. The NHC predicted the storm probably would make landfall near the Alabama-Mississippi border on Saturday at about 3 p.m. As of Thursday afternoon, the “poorly-defined center” of Tropical Storm Arlene was estimated to be about 115 miles south-southeast of the western tip of Cuba and moving north at 8 mph. Tropical storm force winds were extending about 140 miles outward from the center of the storm. The official forecast calls for some “modest strengthening” over the next 24 hours before it reaches the Gulf Coast.

While Gulf producers scramble to get out of the way of the season’s first tropical storm, El Paso’s Southern Natural Gas pipeline system is still picking up the pieces from Ivan. Southern said Thursday that Arlene’s presence will delay repairs on the three pipelines that still remain out of service. The latest estimated in-service date for the 24-inch diameter Main Pass 289-298 line is June 25. Southern’s 12-inch diameter Main Pass 144 lateral is scheduled to return to service on July 3. And its 18-inch diameter Main Pass 306 lateral is estimated to be in service by July 4.

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