Oil Producers Stop Pumping 84% of US oil Production in Gulf of Mexico

The US Department of the Interior said that oil producers stopped pumping 1.56 million barrels per day, or 84% of daily production, from US offshore platforms in the Gulf of Mexico ahead of a hurricane expected to hit the region this week.

Hurricane Laura is heading north in the central Gulf of Mexico and is expected to become a powerful hurricane with winds of 185 kilometers per hour when it reaches land on Thursday.

Organizers for offshore operations said energy producers had evacuated 299 production platforms and 11 drilling rigs as of Tuesday noon.

They added that the closure of wells also reduced US natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico by 1.65 billion cubic feet per day, or 61% of total production.