Roughly 6.5% of crude oil production in the US Gulf of Mexico remained offline on June 12 from Tropical Storm Cristobal's weekend saunter through the region, bringing the area's output closer to normalcy during what after a dozen days has already been an active hurricane season.
More than 122,600 b/d of crude came back online from June 11 to June 12, according to daily updates from the US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. Almost 35% of the US Gulf production was shut-in in advance of the storm.
After a peak of 635,781 b/d was shut in, BSEE said 120,079 b/d remained down on June 12, or 6.49% of total US Gulf oil production.
Also, BSEE decreased its gas shut-in estimate from 241,000 Mcf/d to 107,000 Mcf/d, keeping just 3.95% of the offshore gas volumes offline.
"Personnel have returned to all rigs (non-dynamically positioned) currently operating in the Gulf," BSEE said in a statement.
The number of platforms evacuated in the US Gulf dropped to seven June 12, or about 1% of the 643 such facilities in the region, from 20 or 3% a day earlier.
The US Energy Information Administration estimates the US Gulf oil production in the second quarter at 1.84 million b/d, down from 1.96 million b/d in Q1. Gas output is projected at 2.56 Bcf/d in Q2, down from 2.72 Bcf/d in both Q1 and Q4 2019.
Q1 Gulf oil volume highest level until early 2021
The first three months of 2020 may represent the highest US Gulf oil volume for the next few quarters because drilling has been slashed as the economic downturn lingers from the effects of low oil demand and low oil prices – the result of the global coronavirus pandemic. Q1 2021 oil output will slightly exceed that of Q1 2020 at an estimate of 1.97 million b/d, EIA said in its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook.
And some new projects that were going to come online in a few years have been slowed or deferred.
According to The Weather Channel website, Cristobal was the earliest "C" storm on record, and its remnants tracked all the way north to Wisconsin.
Three named storms have already formed in the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season. The first two, which occurred technically before the official start of hurricane season on June 1, were Arthur and Bertha.
Storms are named in alphabetical order and each season has a pre-determined list of set names. The next name for an Atlantic storm this season is Dolly.
A tropical wave formed early June 11 east of the Caribbean but did not reach storm level.
