82% of US Oil Production Stopped Due to Storms

Data released by the US Environmental Safety and Protection Bureau on Monday showed that oil and gas producers stopped 1.5 million barrels of oil production in the US coast in the Gulf of Mexico, or about 82% of total production, ahead of two consecutive storms this week.

Producers have also stopped about 1.5 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas production, which constitutes approximately 57% of total production.

Energy companies began halting production on Friday in preparation for tropical storms Marco and Laura, which are heading towards the US coast in the Gulf of Mexico in a rare event during the hurricane season.

Sources told Reuters that Motiva Enterprises intends to completely shut down the largest oil refinery in the United States on Tuesday due to the threat of heavy rain from the two storms.

The sources added that Motiva, a subsidiary of Saudi Aramco, began on Monday closing the Port Arthur refinery in Texas, which has a refining capacity of 607 thousand barrels per day.

Chevron and BP Energy announced on Monday that they had halted production at their oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico and had evacuated all workers due to the two storms.