Shell has completed evacuations at Appomattox, Mars, Ursa, Olympus and Vito and confirmed production shutdowns at Mars, Ursa, Olympus and Vito. Chevron has halted production at five Gulf facilities. Across the region, operators have shut about 1.28 million BPD of oil production, or 62.89% of output, and 57.35% of natural gas production, the Marine Minerals Administration estimated Thursday.
Nearly 500,000 BPD of refining capacity remains in the projected path despite an eastward shift that reduced the threat to Louisiana plants. Exposed facilities include Chevron’s 356,000 BPD Pascagoula refinery in Mississippi and Vertex’s 75,000 BPD Mobile refinery in Alabama. Oil analyst Tom Kloza warned that refining losses could prove “just intolerable” particularly for diesel. Gasoline averaged $4.36 a gallon nationally Wednesday, while diesel was about $6.28 after reaching a record in September.