-- Crude output from the Gulf of Mexico may struggle to reach its
1.5-mil b/d level prior to Katrina and Rita during all of 2006, the
International Energy Agency said Thursday. IEA said the short-term
recovery profile for the Gulf in the aftermath of the hurricanes was
unchanged, but that there were "indications that the impact running
through 2006 could be deeper and lasting than previously believed."
-- ExxonMobil Wednesday completed the restart process at its
348,500 b/d Beaumont, Texas, refinery and said the facility was
operating "normally." The refinery was shut down Sep 23 ahead of
Rita, which made landfall the next day. ExxonMobil said Oct 18 that
it was beginning the refinery's restart, adding that it expected the
process to take around two weeks to complete.
-- Shut-in US Gulf of Mexico output will gradually decline
through March 2006, when shut-in crude volumes should fall to
353,000 b/d, or 22.6% of pre-hurricane production levels, and
shut-in gas volumes should fall to 2.1 Bcf/d, or 20.6% of
prehurricane levels, the Energy Information Administration said
Tuesday in its Short-Term Energy Outlook. Onshore Louisiana oil and
gas production, which was less than 50% of capacity at end-October,
was expected to be fully restored by the end of March, EIA said.
Refinery capacity should be fully restored to pre-Katrina levels by
end-February, the agency added.
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