Divers Work the Gulf Floor to Undo What Hurricanes Did

[Strelnikov_]

March 1, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/01/business/01gulf.html?hp&ex=1141275600&en=fa4c4e82b235a4e9&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita destroyed or damaged 167 offshore platforms and 183 pipelines, shut down production for weeks and pushed prices to their highest levels since the fall of the shah of Iran led to the oil shock of the early 1980's. Nineteen movable well-drilling rigs snapped from their moorings and drifted, some as far as 60 miles.

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Today in the gulf's offshore region, 362,000 barrels of oil a day, out of a total of 1.5 million barrels, remain shut off, along with 15 percent of the region's natural gas production, or 1.5 billion cubic feet a day.

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Today, as much as one million barrels a day of capacity, or 6 percent of the nation's total refining capacity, remains shut down. Most of that should be back by the end of March, according to the Energy Department.

The recent wave of hurricanes has exposed the country's reliance on the region's fragile infrastructure and raised uncomfortable questions about its reliability as America's most critical domestic energy source. "We haven't done anything to reduce our vulnerability," said Ted M. Falgout, the director of Port Fourchon, the largest servicing hub for the offshore industry, about 80 miles south of New Orleans. "I hate to think of the next hurricane season."

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Good to know that they are addressing the nations energy infrastructure vulnerabilities. Par for the course now-a-days.