(Reuters) -Oil and gas producers began shutting in U.S. Gulf of Mexico output and pulling workers off platforms on Tuesday ahead of a late hurricane season storm threatening offshore fields.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center warned of steady to rapid intensification over the next 24 to 36 hours, with Tropical Storm Rafael forecast to became a Category 1 hurricane by early Wednesday.
Producers could lose between 3.1 million and 4.9 million barrels of oil and 4.56 billion to 6.39 billion cubic feet of natural gas, researchers predicted.
U.S. oil futures rose about 1% on Tuesday to $72.10 per barrel on storm concerns.
Chevron, which operates Gulf of Mexico production platforms Anchor, Blind Faith, Jack/St. Malo, Tahiti, Petronius, and Big Foot, said it was halting offshore production and evacuating personnel.
Norway’s Equinor also said it has shut in production at its Titan oil platform and expected to complete a full evacuation by day’s end.
BP said it has secured offshore facilities and removed some offshore oil production workers from its Argos, Atlantis, Mad Dog, Na Kika, and Thunder Horse facilities.
Shell on Monday said it has paused drilling operations and began withdrawing some staff from its Appomattox, Vito, Mars and other production facilities in preparation for the storm’s potential impact.
Occidental Petroleum said it was monitoring the weather and had plans that it could implement as needed.
The port of Freeport in south Texas closed to inbound vessel traffic due to offshore conditions ahead of Rafael, according to a notice from a shipping agency.
(Reporting by Sherin Elizabeth Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
