Offshore US output starts to recover after Ida: Update

Updates BSEE data, port status, recasts lead.

US oil and gas operators are starting to return staff to offshore rigs and bringing production back online after assessing damage from Hurricane Ida.

The number of evacuated platforms totaled 278 as of 12:30pm ET today, down by 10 from yesterday, the US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) said.

US offshore oil and gas operators, who had shut down nearly all production in advance of the storm, are still assessing damage in hopes of restarting platforms.

Around 93.7pc, or 1.7mn b/d, of offshore crude output was shut in today, slightly lower than 94.6pc yesterday, according to BSEE. About 94.5pc, or 2.1 Bcf/d, of natural gas production also remained offline today.

Shell said today it has resumed production on its floating storage and offloading vessel, Turritella. The company also said its Perdido platform in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico remained on line throughout the storm. All other Shell offshore platforms remain shut.

Widespread power outages and flooding in some areas are hampering recovery efforts in Louisiana in the wake of the storm which knocked out more than 2mn b/d of refining capacity. All eight power transmission lines serving the New Orleans area were knocked out of service by the hurricane which made landfall on 29 August in Port Fourchon, Louisiana, as a Category 4 storm.

Local power utility Entergy said it has restored power to 9pc of Louisiana customers who lost service during the hurricane and that 865,000 were still without power. The utility has started to assess the vast damage in New Orleans and southeast Louisiana, but it may take days to get a clear picture of the damage and weeks to repair it. Entergy expects a team of more than 20,000 workers to begin work on the system this week.

Most refinery operators with facilities in the storm's path shut down ahead of its arrival, but the extent of damage and potential re-start times may not be known for several days.

Phillips 66's 250,000 b/d Alliance refinery in Belle Chasse, Louisiana, was flooded after the storm surge broke through a temporary levee set up by the company. ExxonMobil said its 500,000 b/d Baton Rouge refinery and petrochemical complex was shut yesterday because of a lack of power, but is restarting today and does not appear to have suffered damage.

The 5,500-mile Colonial pipeline which moves fuel from refineries in Texas and Louisiana to the Atlantic coast, restarted its main lines to Greensboro, North Carolina, late yesterday, after shutting them on 29 August.

Louisiana and Mississippi have received an emergency waiver to immediately start selling winter gasoline blends, a change the US Environmental Protection Agency expects will reduce fuel supply shortages caused by Ida.

The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) was conducting assessments today after suspending deliveries because of the storm. LOOP, about 20 miles (32km) off the coast from Grand Isle, Louisiana, is the only US port capable of fully loading Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs).

In Louisiana, the ports of Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Plaquemines, South Louisiana and St Bernard are still closed.

The Port of New Orleans yesterday said initial reports indicate no major damage to its facilities and that it is coordinating with navigation partners as well as local and state officials in order to resume operations as quickly as possible.

By Eunice Bridges