The U.S. Department of Energy said on Friday it stands ready to release crude oil from the nation’s emergency stockpile if needed due to the impacts of Hurricane Harvey, which is bearing down on the Texas coast.
“The Department of Energy stands ready to provide assistance as deemed necessary, to include any release of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve,” spokewoman Shalyn Hynes said in a emailed statement. “We are in close contact with our federal, state, and local partners and are closely monitoring the storm.”
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About 22 percent of U.S. Gulf of Mexico oil production is offline due to the hurricane, the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) said.
That equates to roughly 377,117 barrels of oil per day, out of the roughly 1.75 million barrels pumped daily from the Gulf.
About 23.2 percent of Gulf natural gas production is offline due to Harvey, or about 748 million cubic feet per day, BSEE said.
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Roughly 86 platforms have been evacuated in the Gulf so far, about 12 percent in the region. Four of the 10 drilling rigs in the Gulf have also been evacuated, BSEE said.
BSEE tabulates the data by polling 30 Gulf operators.