WASHINGTON - A total of 108 low producing oil and natural gas offshore platforms were destroyed by hurricanes Rita and Katrina and some of the other 53 heavily damaged platforms could be offline until next year, the US Interior Department said Tuesday.
The destroyed platforms likely will not be rebuilt, Interior Secretary Gale Norton told reporters, adding that repairing damage elsewhere would run into the "billions of dollars."
In a briefing on the damage done by the hurricanes, the department also said that 90 percent of crude oil production in the Gulf of Mexico is still shut-in and 72 percent of offshore natural gas production is still offline.
Norton said the destroyed platforms account for about 1.7 percent of oil output in the Gulf of Mexico and 0.9 percent of natural gas production.
Repairs to platforms with major damage could run into next year, while restaffing unmanned rigs that escaped damage so they can operate again could take another 10 days, she said.
"Major repairs may take months and some facilities into next year," Norton told reporters. Some 50 platforms were damaged by the two hurricanes.
Restoring production to platforms with minor damage could take several more weeks, she said.
Johnnie Burton, the head of the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service, said that 30 percent of offshore oil and gas production may be shut-in because of damage to onshore oil refineries and natural gas processing plants.
A dozen oil refineries and 21 gas processing plants remain offline after the hurricanes.
Norton added the department will not know for several more weeks exactly how much shut Gulf production is due to damaged facilities onshore and how much damaged offshore platforms and underwater pipelines are at fault.
Burton said the damage done to underwater pipelines by the two hurricanes was not as severe as the damage done from underwater mudslides caused by Hurricane Ivan last year.
Some 342 offshore platforms are still evacuated after the hurricanes plowed through the heart of oil and gas producing region, she added.
The Interior Department and US Coast Guard are investigating why Chevron Corp.'s Typhoon tension leg platform capsized, while similar platforms remained intact, Burton said.
"There's no reason to think that the wind was strong enough to capsize it," Burton said, speculating that another rig could have collided with the Typhoon platform, which had produced 40,000 barrels per day of crude oil.
The MMS is focusing on methods of anchoring offshore drilling rigs to the sea floor, after 19 rigs slipped from their moorings during Katrina and Rita and dragged their anchors, possibly damaging underwater pipelines.
Regulators and industry will meet Nov. 17 to discuss the issue, Norton said.
Katrina churned through the Gulf of Mexico with winds of over 155 mph before striking the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts Aug. 29. Rita hit the Texas-Louisiana border Sept. 24 with winds of 120 mph.
Story by Tom Doggett and Chris Baltimore
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
