Mexico City - Saba:
The US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) announced that more than a quarter of crude oil production and about 17 per cent of natural gas production in the US Gulf of Mexico has been halted in the wake of Hurricane Rafael.
‘Hurricane Rafael, which hit the Gulf of Mexico and then moved to the centre of the Gulf, prompted oil companies to evacuate dozens of production and drilling facilities,’ Reuters news agency quoted the office as saying in a statement. He pointed out that 490,241 barrels of oil and 313 million cubic feet of natural gas stopped production yesterday.
The office added: ‘Oil and gas workers were evacuated from 41 out of 371 production platforms, along with moving seven drilling vessels away from the hurricane's path.’
The US Gulf of Mexico accounts for 15 per cent of total US crude oil production and two per cent of natural gas production.
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