(Adds details, background)
NEW YORK, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell Plc
said on Thursday it declared force majeure on several contracts
due to damage to its offshore facilities in the Gulf of Mexico
after Hurricane Ida.
As of Wednesday, more than three-quarters of the U.S. Gulf
of Mexico's offshore oil and natural gas output remained shut as
the fallout from powerful Hurricane Ida hampered production.
Shell has begun redeployment of personnel to its Appomattox
platform in the Gulf of Mexico while damage assessments are
continuing at its West Delta-143 (WD-143) offshore facilities
after the hurricane.
Those facilities serve as the transfer station for all
production from Shell's assets in the Mars corridor in the Gulf
of Mexico to onshore crude and natural gas terminals.
Force majeure is a legal provision used by companies during
unforeseen events such as hurricanes and fires when they cannot
meet contractual obligations such as delivering oil.
"Crews are working to complete a comprehensive assessment of
the damage and to the degree possible, assess how long
production from our Mars corridor assets will be impacted,"
company spokesperson Curtis Smith said in a statement.
(Reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar in New York; Editing by
Chizu Nomiyama and David Evans)