U.S. government: 24.19 percent U.S. Gulf oil, 8.24 percent gas output shut on Isaac

Date: 27-Aug-12
Country: USA
Author: Kristen Hays

U.S. regulators said on Sunday 24.19 percent of daily oil and 8.24 percent of daily natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico in advance of Tropical Storm Isaac, which was forecast to strengthen into a hurricane before hitting landfall midweek between the Florida Panhandle and Louisiana.

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said oil and gas producers had shut 333,815 barrels per day of oil 371 million cubic feet per day of daily natural gas output. Those figures were expected to rise in the coming days.

The Gulf accounts for 23 percent of daily oil and 7 percent of daily natural gas output in the U.S.

That path would bring the storm across one of the most energy infrastructure-heavy areas of the Gulf.

(Reporting by Kristen Hays, Editing by Gary Crosse)