Oil major Shell said Thursday its U.S. Gulf of Mexico West Delta-143 (WD-143) offshore facilities had been damaged by Hurricane Ida.
Shell observed damage during a flyover of its assets in the path of Hurricane Ida.
"When it is safe to do so, we will send personnel offshore to provide a closer inspection of these facilities to understand the full extent of the damage and the degree to which our production in the Gulf of Mexico will likely be impacted," Shell said.
The WD-143 offshore facilities serve as the transfer station for all production from Shell's assets in the Mars corridor in the Mississippi Canyon area of the Gulf of Mexico to onshore crude terminals. The WD-143 platform, owned by Shell Offshore Inc. (71.5%) and BP (28.5%), is operated by Shell Pipeline Company.
During the flyover, Shell said that it hadn't observed any visible structural damage to the rest of its offshore assets.
"When we are able to safely deploy personnel offshore to these assets, we will conduct additional inspections and work to restore production as soon as possible," Shell said.
80% of Output Offline
"Our Perdido asset in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico was never disrupted by the hurricane, and our floating production, storage and offloading vessel, the Turritella (also known as Stones) is currently back on line. All of our other offshore assets remain shut in and remain fully evacuated at this time. At the early phase of assessment and recovery, approximately 80% of Shell-operated production in the Gulf of Mexico remains off line," the company said.
In Louisiana, Reuters reported Wednesday that Shell would halt crew changes to and from its sites until a temporary heliport is established, as its crew-change heliport in Houma, Louisiana, sustained "significant damage" as a result of Hurricane Ida.
BSEE, the U.S. offshore safety regulator, said Thursday that 93.55 percent of oil production and 91.29 percent of the gas production in the Gulf of Mexico remained shut in.
