Chevron, BHP evacuate workers from Gulf of Mexico due to hurricane

Reuters

Published Aug 30, 2019 23:36

Chevron, BHP evacuate workers from Gulf of Mexico due to hurricane

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Major offshore oil and gas producers on Friday were evacuating non-essential staff from production platforms in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico due to the threat from Hurricane Dorian.

BP (LON:BP), Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX) and BHP Group said they had or were in the process of removing some workers from their facilities as a precautionary measure. Each said oil and gas production at the offshore facilities was unaffected.

Dorian is forecast to strike the Atlantic coast of Florida by early next week as a major hurricane. Some computer models project Dorian may cross the Florida peninsula and enter the Gulf of Mexico.

Oil and gas operations in the Gulf of Mexico account for 16%of U.S. crude oil output and about 4% of U.S. natural gas.

Planned evacuations were complete at BP's Atlantis, Mad Dog, Na Kika and Thunderhorse, and at Chevron's Petronius and Blind Faith platforms, the companies said. BHP will evacuate non-essential workers from its Neptune and Shenzi production facilities on Saturday, a spokeswoman said.

Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM) and Occidental (NYSE:OXY) Petroleum said they are closely monitoring Dorian, and their Gulf of Mexico operations were operating normally.

Other oil companies with operations in the U.S.-regulated north Gulf of Mexico did not reply to requests for comment about offshore operations.

Chevron said its Pascagoula, Mississippi, refinery continues to monitor the storm.