Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Murphy Oil Corp. began evacuating non-essential workers from the U.S. Gulf of Mexico (GoM) on June 4 because of the threat from Tropical Storm Cristobal.
Shell said production and drilling operations in the U.S.-regulated northern GoM were unaffected despite the evacuations.
Gulf Coast spot gasoline prices have not significantly gained, traders said. CBOB gasoline in the region traded June 4 at 12.50 cents per gallon below the futures benchmark , little changed from June 3.
Shell and Murphy’s announcements brings the number of companies removing workers from the GoM to five because of Cristobal, which is forecast to pass through offshore oil production areas in the northern GoM over the weekend, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.
Cristobal has weakened in Mexico’s Bay of Campeche but is expected to strengthen before striking the Louisiana coast by early June 8.
BP Plc said June 3 workers were being evacuated as it shuts in production at its Thunder Horse, Na Kika and Atlantis platforms. The company is also pulling non-essential workers from the Mad Dog platform, but production was unaffected.
Norwegian state-oil company Equinor ASA and Occidental Petroleum Corp. began evacuating non-essential workers June 3. Equinor plans to shut the Titan platform June 5, if necessary.
The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port LLC (LOOP), Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp. and Hess Corp. said their operations were normal.