The United States’ Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said 91 per cent of offshore crude oil production remains shut in the US-regulated northern Gulf of Mexico following Hurricane Delta, which made landfall on Friday.
In a report on Tuesday, BSEE added that 62.2 per cent of natural gas output remains shut in the Gulf following the storm that made landfall near Creole, Louisiana, and weakened into a low-pressure system over Mississippi on Saturday.
Financial Street reported on Thursday that the US regulator approximated 80.42 per cent of current oil production shut-in as the hurricane took a sweep in the Gulf.
Hurricane Delta, which dealt the greatest blow to the US Gulf of Mexico energy production in 15 years, was downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone at the weekend.
It could take several days after a storm passes for energy producers to evaluate facilities for damage, return workers and restore offshore production.
However, Chevron Corp, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BHP Group all reportedly said on Sunday that workers were headed back to production platforms in the region.
Through Sunday, a total of 8.8m barrels of crude oil production and 8.3bn cubic feet of natural gas output from the Gulf has been shut because of the hurricane.
As the US producers began restoring output post-Hurricane Delta, oil prices on Monday dropped one per cent for a second straight session.
On Monday, Brent crude fell to $42.44 a barrel and the US West Texas Intermediate was at $40.18 a barrel.
