Offshore Drillers Get Back to Work After Storm Scare

Travis Hoium, The Motley Fool
Updated

Hurricane season is having an effect on oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, and we haven't even seen a major hurricane in the Gulf yet. But with oil drilling safety a new focus, it's better to be safe than sorry.

Tropical Storm Lee forced the evacuation of 239 production platforms, 38.7% of the platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, over the holiday weekend. Twenty-five of the drill rigs owned by Hercules Offshore (NAS: HERO) , Transocean (NYS: RIG) , Seadrill (NYS: SDRL) , and others were also evacuated.

As of now, it appears that just over 60% of oil production and 41% of natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico has been shut down. But workers are already starting to get back to work.

More than 100 platforms have brought workers back on board along with 13 drill rigs. Production hasn't started to ramp up because platforms and rigs need to be inspected before work begins again, but that shouldn't take long since damage should be minimal.

The season isn't over
We aren't quite out of the woods yet. Tropical depression 14 is on its way through the Caribbean this weekend, and we aren't generally out of hurricane season until the end of November.

Gulf producers such as Chevron (NYS: CVX) , Apache (NYS: APA) , and BP (NYS: BP) are champing at the bit to get workers back out to platforms and begin production again. And with the president's jobs speech on the way tomorrow, so would the government. The Gulf of Mexico produces about 30% of U.S. oil production, and a Gulf region that's still recovering from manmade and natural disasters could use the work.

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At the time thisarticle was published Fool contributorTravis Hoiumdoes not have a position in any company mentioned. You can follow Travis on Twitter at@FlushDrawFool, check out hispersonal stock holdingsor follow his CAPS picks atTMFFlushDraw. The Motley Fool owns shares of Transocean.Motley Fool newsletter serviceshave recommended buying shares of Chevron. Try any of our Foolish newsletter servicesfree for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe thatconsidering a diverse range of insightsmakes us better investors. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.

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Originally published