NEW ORLEANS - Extensive pipeline damage triggered by mudslides and the pounding from a 75-foot rogue wave are the chief reasons for the sluggish return of oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico after September's Hurricane Ivan, a government official said.
More than two months after Ivan swept across the Gulf, oil and gas production in the region is still 10 percent below normal levels, prompting questions over why output is taking so long to be restored to pre-hurricane levels, compared with previous years.
Among the top reasons is that, unlike Hurricanes Andrew and Lili in past years, Ivan's path triggered underwater avalanches along a region caked with mud where the Mississippi River spills into the gulf, Chris Oynes, director of the Gulf of Mexico region for the US Minerals Management Service, said in an interview.
The federal agency manages the nation's oil, natural gas and other mineral resources on the outer continental shelf in federal offshore waters.
Those mudslides wreaked unprecedented havoc on pipelines that transport oil produced in the area, disrupting supply, he said.
ChevronTexaco Corp., for example, still has about 50,000 barrels per day of production shut in, partly due to pipelines operated by third parties that are still damaged, said Melody Meyer, vice president of the company's Gulf of Mexico business unit.
Indeed, MMS is still assessing the extent of the total damage to the pipelines and cannot quantify it yet.
"This one was the most extensive pipeline damage we've seen," said Oynes.
Though there is a lack of definitive data, Oynes said, he estimates overall Ivan-related damage to production in the region has been the most extensive and for the longest period, compared with past hurricanes.
Among the casualties were seven oil platforms, four of which were victims of the mudslides, he said.
ROGUE WAVE
Apart from the mudslides, oil structures in the Gulf also had to cope with a so-called rogue wave off the coast of Alabama that was purportedly 75 feet tall -- bigger than what oil platforms are designed to withstand -- Oynes said.
The mountainous wave careened into ChevronTexaco's Petronius oil platform, leaving its helicopter landing pad and crew's quarters upside down, as well as damaging the entire structure.
While the wave was recorded at 60 feet high close to the platform, ChevronTexaco's own internal estimates suggest it could have been as high as 90 feet, said Meyer.
The company does not expect production from the platform to resume until early next year.
Indeed, overall production in the region is not expected to climb back rapidly any time soon.
Oil output in the Gulf is expected to reach 96 percent of its normal rate of 1.7 million barrels per day in February, from a little over 90 percent currently, MMS estimates.
The remaining 4 percent is expected to take as much as a year or more to come back.
Natural gas production has fared a little better, at 95 percent of its normal levels, according to the latest data.
Story by Deepa Babington
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
