Hurricane Ian shuts in 11pc of Gulf oil output

US offshore operators shut 11pc of Gulf of Mexico oil production as a precaution ahead of Hurricane Ian, which is expected to hit the west coast of Florida Wednesday evening.

About 190,358 b/d of offshore oil output was off line as of 12:30pm ET, according to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), and 184mn cf/d of natural gas production. A total of 12 platforms were evacuated.

Although the storm is the first major hurricane of the season to threaten the mainland US, it is expected to spare the majority of oil and gas facilities in the Gulf, a region that accounts for about 15pc of US crude output and 5pc of dry-gas production.

BP said it will redeploy personnel to two offshore platforms that were shut down yesterday, now that it is clear the hurricane no longer poses a significant threat to its offshore facilities. The company is working to return staff to the 130,000 b/d Na Kika and 250,000 b/d Thunder Horse platforms.

Chevron started evacuating all personnel from its Petronius and Blind Faith platforms yesterday. Production at the company's other facilities in the Gulf of Mexico remained at normal levels.

Ian was about 265 miles south of Sarasota, Florida, as of 3pm ET today, moving north at 10 mph, with maximum sustained winds of 120mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.

On its current forecast track, the center of Ian is expected to move over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico today before passing west of the Florida Keys later tonight, and then approaching the west coast of Florida within the hurricane warning area on Wednesday.

Ian is expected to re-strengthen through Wednesday and come ashore Wednesday evening as an extremely dangerous major hurricane.

By Stephen Cunningham