-- It should take "many months" or even a year for US Gulf of
Mexico oil and gas production to return to normal levels following
hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Interior Secretary Gale Norton told a
Senate panel on Oct 27. She noted that industry must conduct
"necessary inspections" to determine if repairs are required and, if
necessary, fix any damage. "It is evident from reportsreceived from
industry to-date that this work will take approximately several
months to a year," Norton said. The Interior Department estimates
that 30% of pipelines have not been leak tested, and 60% of
underwater/riser inspections have not been completed. All told, more
than 30% of Outer Continental Shelf pipelines will require repairs,
she said. While 45% of pipelines in the area are operational,
another 25% are undamaged but cannot flow because of downstream
problems, such as damage to gas processing plants or oil terminals,
Norton explained.
-- The aftereffects of Katrina and Rita will continue to curb
upstream production and downstream refinery throughput for
ExxonMobil in the fourth quarter, a spokesman said on Oct 27. The
company's hird quarter volumes were down 50,000 boe/d due to the
storms. The major has restored 70% of its output, but remains
hampered by other companies' infrastructure issues. Fourth quarter
production will be off by 80,000 boe/d due to the storms, the
spokesman said. Downstream, third quarter refinery throughput was
off by 140,000 b/d due to hurricane-related refinery outages. While
operations should return to "normal" in the fourth quarter, there
will still be a loss of about 140,000 b/d of throughput in the
fourth quarter, said the spokesman.
-- US oil companies have a "responsibility" to increase refining
capacity in light of their recent record profits, US Energy
Secretary Samuel Bodman told the Senate Energy Committee on Oct 27.
-- ExxonMobil plans to "imminently" begin the phased restart of
Chalmette Refining's 187,000 b/d Louisiana plant and should be at
full rates by year-end, a spokesman for the major said on Oct 27
during an earnings conference call.
-- Plains All American Pipeline on Oct 27 said repairs on its
ship docking facilities at the Mobile Bay, Alabama terminal should
be completed by the end of the fourth quarter. The facilities were
damaged by Hurricane Katrina in late August. The company expects the
bulk of repair costs to be covered by insurance.
-- Crude and natural gas production shut-ins in the Gulf of
Mexico again decreased slightly, the US Minerals Management Service
said on Oct 27. The agency said oil shut-ins in the Gulf were
1,022,313 b/d, or 68.15% of normal production of 1.5-mil b/d. On Oct
26, shut-ins were 1,022,515 b/d, or 68.17% of normal. Gas shut-ins
slipped to 5.559 Bcf/d, or 55.59% of normal output of 10 Bcf/d. On
Oct 26, shut-ins were 5.563 Bcf/d, or 55.63% of normal. MMS said the
cumulative oil production shut in since Aug 26 ahead of Hurricane
Katrina is now 70,595,715 bbl, equivalent to 12.894% of yearly US
Gulf output of roughly 547.5-mil bbl. Cumulative gas shut-ins of
359.216 Bcf is equivalent to about 9.842% of yearly Gulf output of
some 3.65 Tcf.
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