Shell, Chevron, and Norway’s Equinor are evacuating staff from offshore facilities due to the increasing threat of Tropical Cyclone System 9. The storm is moving toward the Gulf Coast and could strengthen into a hurricane by Wednesday.
On Monday, Chevron completed the evacuation of nonessential personnel from its Gulf of Mexico facilities, which include the Anchor, Big Foot, Blind Faith, Jack, Petronius, and Tahiti platforms. Shell announced on Sunday that it is closely monitoring the storm’s path and preparing to suspend production at two platforms: Stones and Appomattox. Additionally, Shell has evacuated nonessential staff from its Mars Corridor assets as a precaution.
Equinor has also evacuated nonessential personnel from its Titan platform.
Tropical Storm and Hurricane Watches have been issued for Cuba and parts of Mexico. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned that the tropical cyclone, located near western Cuba on Monday, is expected to intensify in the next 72 hours.
As of noon on Wednesday (ET), the NHC indicated a 90% chance that the storm would develop within the next two days. A meteorologist from Harris County stated that the storm is likely to become a Category 4 hurricane as it travels over the warmer waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
On Monday, oil prices reacted more to economic data from Europe than to the potential disruption in oil supply from the Gulf or escalating conflicts in the Middle East. By 4:13 p.m. ET, Brent crude was down 0.59%, trading at $74.05, while the U.S. crude benchmark, WTI, was down 0.47% at $70.53.
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