After Shell's initial assessment of its Gulf of Mexico assets following Hurricane Ida, the company previously said it did not observe any visible structural damage but as an update, Shell said it did observe damage to its West Delta-143 (WD-143) offshore facility.
"We continued damage assessment at WD-143 and are working to understand the full extent of the damage and the degree to which our production in the Gulf of Mexico will be impacted," the company said. "The WD-143 facilities serve as the transfer station for all production from our assets in the Mars corridor in the Mississippi Canyon area of the Gulf of Mexico to onshore crude terminals."
Shell added in its statement that the Perdido asset in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico was never disrupted by the hurricane and the floating production, storage and offloading vessel, the Turritella (also known as Stones), is currently back online.
"All of our other offshore assets remain shut in and remain fully evacuated at this time. Approximately 80% of Shell-operated production is currently offline," Shell said.
Shell is currently working through a process to conduct a more detailed damage assessment at those assets and work to restore production as soon as possible.
"A temporary crew-change heliport is in the process of being established, because our primary crew change heliport in Houma, LA sustained significant damage in the storm. Crew changes to and from assets will not occur until the temporary heliport has been fully set up. However, some limited flights have taken place to move non-essential personnel to shore," the company noted.
Shell's Norco and Geismar manufacturing facilities were shut down proactively in advance of the storm with only essential personnel at the sites. The Norco site lost power, and there is evidence of some building damage. Geismar did not lose power. Damage assessments are underway at both facilities. At this time, Shell cannot confirm a schedule for when Norco and Geismar will resume full operations and production
"We are continuing to use multiple tools to check in on all employees who were in the path of the storm, and are providing various offerings of support to our impacted employees," the company said. "We will continue to monitor weather reports and conditions on the ground across southeast Louisiana and respond accordingly. As always, Shell’s top priority is the safety of our people, the environment and our assets."
Seven refineries in the state of Louisiana remained shut down the morning of Sept. 2, making up about 9% of U.S. refining capacity, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Among them is Phillips 66’s Alliance refinery in Belle Chasse, Louisiana, which flooded during the storm, the company confirmed in a Sept. 1 statement.
