Rig Evacuations Begin Ahead Of Tropical Storm
Non essential personnel are being evacuated off of some BP Oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. The company made that announcement late yesterday. This is in response to a potential tropical cyclone that is expected to be in the southern Gulf of Mexico by later today.
The company said the precautions were being taken on four platforms in the central gulf. Among the platforms included in the precautionary evacuation was the Thunder Horse. The Thunder Horse is the largest platform in the world and is capable of producing 200 million cubic feet of natural gas and a quarter of a million barrels of oil per day. Other platforms that were involved in this precautionary procedure were the Na Kika, Atlantis and Mad Dog.
The evacuation was limited to personnel deemed non essential to oil and gas production. BP did state on its website that production was not being curtailed or halted at this time. Royal Dutch Shell, the biggest oil producer in the Gulf and other operators including, Anadarko Petroleum Corp and Hess Corp, had not begun evacuations but did say they were monitoring conditions in the Gulf of Mexico.