(Updates production shut-ins, evacuations, adds BP PLC)
HOUSTON, June 8 (Reuters) - Energy companies on Monday began
preparations to resume oil and gas production in the U.S. Gulf
of Mexico, a day after Tropical Storm Cristobal blew through
with high winds and heavy rains.
Producers had evacuated 182 offshore facilities and shut in
about a third of oil and gas production in U.S. Gulf of Mexico
wells as of Monday.
Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Murphy Oil Corp and
BP Plc were among the companies that said on Monday they
were starting to resume normal operations and return workers to
offshore facilities.
Energy companies typically inspect platforms after a storm
passes and return evacuated workers once it is safe to do so.
U.S. Gulf Coast spot gasoline prices strengthened slightly
on Monday, traders said, up 0.25 cent per gallon from Friday.
Cristobal has weakened to a tropical depression after making
landfall in Louisiana on Sunday with 50 mile-per-hour (80
kph)winds. It led producers to shut 34% of oil and 35% of gas
output in the Gulf of Mexico, offshore regulator Bureau of
Safety and Environmental Enforcement said. The region provides
about 1.93 million bpd of oil.
Exxon Mobil Corp, Shell and PBF Energy Inc
kept their oil refineries in Louisiana in operation as Cristobal
hit over the weekend, people familiar with the operations said.
PBF declined to comment. Exxon and Shell were not
immediately available to comment.
Exxon's 502,500 bpd Baton Rouge, PBF's 190,000 bpd Chalmette
and Shell's 225,300 bpd Norco, Louisiana, refineries were
operating normally on Monday, the sources said.
The storm was 15 miles (30 km) east of Monroe, Louisiana, at
10 a.m. on Monday and dropping up to 10 inches (25.4 cm) of rain
on central and eastern Gulf Coast areas. It should move through
Arkansas and Missouri on Monday and Tuesday, U.S. National
Hurricane Center forecasters said.
(Reporting by Erwin Seba and Jennifer Hiller in Houston,
Jessica Resnick-Ault in New York and Arpan Varghese in
Bengaluru;
Editing by Marguerita Choy, Matthew Lewis and Dan Grebler)
