While not even coming close to the power of 2002’s Hurricane Lili, 2003’s Hurricane Claudette showed Tuesday that she could still make a dent in the Gulf of Mexico’s natural gas and oil output. The industry in Houston, however, appeared to be taking the “bad weather” in stride, moving personnel in from offshore rigs, but preparing to send them right back out again. For gas prices also, it appeared to be a ho-hum event, with prices Tuesday generally up a few pennies.

While Lili was a Category 4 storm with 150 mph winds and 30-foot swells, Claudette has produced only 80 mph winds. But Tropical Storm Claudette nevertheless achieved hurricane status overnight into Tuesday, becoming the first hurricane of the season. On Tuesday afternoon, the eye of Claudette made landfall over the Matagorda Peninsula of the middle Texas coast.

However, Claudette’s status as a hurricane was short-lived as the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said late Tuesday afternoon that Claudette had been downgraded to a tropical storm again as it lost power over land. As of 5 p.m. EDT, the storm’s winds were clocked at 70 mph. Despite the relative weakness of the storm, Claudette has caused the temporary shut-in of several billion cubic feet of Gulf gas production.

In September and October 2002, Category 4 Lili teamed with Tropical Storm Isidore to knock out more than 14.4 million bbl of oil and 90 Bcf of gas (see Daily GPI, Oct. 21, 2002).

The hurricane warning for the Texas coast from Baffin Bay to High Island has been changed to a tropical storm warning from Port Arkansas to Freeport. All other warnings have been discontinued north of Freeport and south of Port Arkansas, the NHC said late Tuesday.

Located approximately 85 miles southeast of San Antonio, TX as of 5 p.m. EDT, Claudette was moving west at 14 mph. “This motion will bring the center farther inland over southern Texas tonight and Wednesday,” the NHC said. “Further weakening is forecast during the next 24 hours as the center moves inland…and Claudette may weaken to a tropical depression later tonight or Wednesday.”

The storm has caused many oil and natural gas companies to evacuate their platforms and shut down production (see Daily GPI, July 14; July 15). Tuesday afternoon, the Minerals Management Service reported a total of 264 platforms and 41 rigs evacuated and 2.537 Bcf/d of gas and 332,942 b/d of oil shut in due to the storm. The shut in production is equivalent to about 18.1% of total Gulf gas production and 20.8% of total oil production from the Gulf. Pipelines from the Gulf reported delivery cuts, and the High Island Offshore System (HIOS) called a force majeure on its 1.8 Bcf/d offshore pipeline system, saying that because of lost production it would not be able to fulfill all deliveries.

“We have about 250 workers who have been evacuated from western Gulf platforms and a number of onshore fields that are near the coast in Texas and parts of Louisiana,” said ExxonMobil spokesman Bob Davis. “We currently have about 43,000 b/d of liquids and 250 MMcf/d of gas shut in. We don’t really have an estimate of when we will be bringing it back into production. We are just watching things very carefully at this point.”

In the western Gulf, Davis said the Hoover Diana, Matagorda Bay, Galveston, Eugene Island, Green Canyon and High Island fields are currently shut in.

ChevronTexaco said it is currently remobilizing personnel in the Gulf from East to West as weather permits. “More than 800 workers are currently offshore and we expect that number to increase as the day progresses,” the company said in a statement Tuesday. “ChevronTexaco currently has approximately 120,000 b/d of oil and 425 MMcf/d of gas shut in.”

El Paso Corp. said it had 100 people evacuated and 65 MMcfe/d shut in mainly from the West Cameron area. “We anticipate remobilizing later today as conditions improve and expect to start bringing production back on line tomorrow morning,” the company said.

Unocal spokeswoman Christine LeLaurin, said, “We are in the process of repopulating our fields in the central and eastern Gulf and would envision continuing that on Wednesday and Thursday in the western Gulf as weather permits.” She noted that there are still 417 employees from 33 rigs still evacuated and 85 MMcf/d and 2,500 b/d of oil shut in. Anadarko and Marathon said there was no change from their Monday figures. Anadarko continues to have 15 properties evacuated in the Western Gulf, affecting about 10% of its total 53,000 boe/d of gas and oil production in the Gulf, while Marathon continues to have about 75 MMcf/d of net gas production and 550 bbl/d of net oil production. Kerr-McGee continued to be tight-lipped on shut in volumes.

The NHC warned that the storm’s hurricane force winds currently are extending outward up to 30 miles from the center, while tropical storm force winds can be experienced up to 175 miles from center. Hurricane conditions are occurring along portions of the Texas Coastal Plains, with tropical storm conditions elsewhere along portions of the middle and upper Texas coast.

The agency also reported that isolated tornadoes are possible along the upper and middle Texas coastal areas. “Storm surge flooding of four to six feet above normal tide levels…with higher levels in Bays…accompanied by large and dangerous battering waves…can be expected in the warning area near and to the north of where the center crosses the coast,” the NHC said. “Large swells have been impacting the shorelines elsewhere along the Texas coast and are creating above normal tides and dangerous surf conditions.”

The NHC added that storm total rainfall associated with Claudette could be five to eight inches.

Weather 2000, which has been calling Claudette closer than many other forecasters, said the hurricane struck the Texas coast at mid-day Tuesday at a Northwesterly approach angle, near the towns of Palacios & Sargent/Matagorda, just north of the port cities of Port O’Conner & Port Lavaca and just South of Freeport and Galveston.

“Outside of the immediate vicinity of the Eye, the larger metro-plex around Galveston Bay is really getting pounded by sea swells, storm surge, heavy rains and net winds,” Weather 2000 said in a Tuesday early afternoon update. “Remember, wind speeds are additive to the North of Claudette’s center, so what is experienced are the sustained winds ( 80 mph) plus the forward velocity.”

The New York City-based consulting firm said flooding rains, tornado outbreaks, tidal surges and damaging winds will impact most of Southeast Texas during the day, with residual rain/flooding impacts and thunderstorms to be felt for the next few days.

Taking a swipe at the NHC, Weather 2000 classified the government’s early Tuesday projection that Claudette would reach landfall late Tuesday night “in 12-18 hours” as a tragedy.

“Claudette’s Eye is already striking/crossing land as we speak (mid-morning),” Weather 2000 exclaimed. “Perhaps it was more wishful thinking that Claudette would turn to the South (to partially salvage original model projections), but this is a public safety debacle. For the Government (the only body that can officially declare advisories) to mis-forecast what time a Hurricane’s Eye will cross land, by 8 hours on the same day, is a calamity.”

©Copyright 2003 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.