BP returning crews to US Gulf Na Kika, Thunder Horse oil and gas platforms

BP has begun returning offshore crews to its Na Kika and Thunder Horse oil and gas platforms in the US Gulf of Mexico deepwater as Hurricane Ian's track has been better defined as well east of those producing hubs, the company said Sept. 27.

"With forecasts indicating the storm will track toward the Florida peninsula, BP has determined Hurricane Ian no longer poses a significant threat to our Gulf of Mexico assets," BP said in a statement.

The company had shut in production at both platforms, and said it will bring those two large producing hubs back online.

Chevron had no updates to its Sept. 26 statement that it was removing crews, and shutting in production, from its Petronius and Blind Faith platforms. Shell, also a large US Gulf producer, had not issued any Ian-related statements.

The US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) said 190,359 b/d of oil, or 11% of the US Gulf's total crude production, was shut in by nine companies as of 11:30 am CT, as well as 184,000 Mcf/d of natural gas, or 8.6% of the region's total gas output.

BSEE also said crews have been evacuated from a total of 12 production platforms, representing 2.3% of the 521 manned platforms in the US Gulf.

The drop in crude production helped bolster NYMEX crude futures Sept. 27, with the front-month contract rising $1.79 to settle at $78.50/b. However, analysts said the NYMEX gains were mostly technical, as crude was bouncing off of 9-month lows.

Spot US Gulf offshore Mars crude was stronger Sept. 27 in part on the production outages, trading at a 75 cents/b discount to WTI, according to S&P Global Platts data. That was up from a $1/b discount Sept. 26 and a $1.55/b discount Sept. 23.

Slow start

The US hurricane season has had a slow start so far this year, with minimal impacts to US oil and gas operations.

"Historically, hurricane activity peaks in mid-to-late September which typically brings about significant disruptions to production the US Gulf," said S&P Global Commodity Insights analyst Sami Yahya.

However, with the Atlantic hurricane season lasting until the end of November, the risk of disruptions remains.

"Our assumption is for a seasonal loss, on average, of 75,000 b/d in 2022," Yahya said.

Hurricane Ian's center is targeted to move over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico later Sept. 27, pass west of the Florida Keys and approach the west coast of Florida on Sept. 28, the US National Hurricane Center said.

Ian is projected to approach Florida's west coast "as an extremely dangerous major hurricane," Category 3 or higher, NHC said.