Oil production in Gulf of Mexico begins to recover
Some oil production in the Gulf of Mexico returned Monday, as companies began to recover from Hurricane Harvey.
An estimated 18.9% of the Gulf’s 1.75 million barrels per day of crude output was offline, according to the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE). That’s down from a Sunday estimate of 22%. The agency said 98 platforms remained evacuated, while seven returned to action.
The BSEE also determined that natural gas production improved. Approximately 18.1% of production was shut down, compared to 25.7% a day earlier.
Gas prices are expected to rise across the country in the coming days after Harvey, now a tropical storm churning near the Gulf Coast, forced refineries and oil platforms to shut down. Harvey also affected shale oilfields and some pipelines that transport crude oil to refineries.
Shares of Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM), Chevron (NYSE:CVX) and Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDSA) were trading lower Monday.