HOUSTON -(Dow Jones)- About 58.8% of crude and 47.7% of natural gas output from the Gulf of Mexico was still shut in by Hurricane Ike, the U.S. Minerals Management Service said Wednesday.
The MMS said operators had erred in reporting oil production figures Monday and Tuesday. The MMS couldn't be immediately reached for comment about which operators caused the errors. In a release, the MMS said they are working to ensure the errors don't happen again.
Output of 764,295 barrels of oil a day remains shut in, according to the MMS's regular afternoon update. About 3.532 billion cubic feet of natural gas output was off line, the MMS said. These numbers were higher than the MMS reported Friday.
The Gulf of Mexico produces about 1.3 million barrels of oil a day and about 7.4 bcf of natural gas, the MMS said.
The number of people MMS said were still evacuated from production facilities on Wednesday was more than previously reported over the last few days.
Workers remained evacuated from about 123 production platforms, equivalent to 17.2% of the 694 manned platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, the MMS said, citing numbers it gathered by 11:30 a.m. CDT Wednesday. The percentage calculation was made taking into account that 23 manned production platforms were destroyed by Ike.
Ike made landfall on the Texas Gulf Coast Sept. 13 as a Category 2 hurricane.
-By Susan Daker, Dow Jones Newswires; 713-547-9208; susan.daker@dowjones.com
Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http://www.djnewsplus.com/al?rnd=cN9izTttzEYnp%2BVDiKDWSA%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 01, 2008 15:54 ET (19:54 GMT)