Upstream oil companies began shutting down oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico on Friday, a day after they initially evacuated non-essential workers, as Hurricane Ida (Ida) approached the Gulf of Mexico, Aug. 27. Ida upgraded from a tropical storm to a hurricane on August 27. In addition, ports along the Gulf Coast remain open but restricted, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. Judy Dane, a spokesman for BHP Billiton, said Friday that the company had shut down production of the Shenzi platform it operates. BP said late Thursday that it had begun to protect its offshore facilities, evacuating workers from its four Gulf of Mexico platforms and shutting down production. "Mobile offshore drilling rigs contracted with BP, which can be removed and transferred to other locations, are protecting the well from the storm," the company said in a statement. " Late Thursday, Shell said its four oil production platforms, Ursa, Mars, Olympus and Appomattox, were being shut down and all workers were evacuated to shore. The company has also shut down production at the Stones oil field in the southern Gulf of Mexico and is preparing to disconnect the floating production, storage and unloading ship Turritella and move it to a safer area to wait for the storm to end. Meanwhile, Shell continues to withdraw non-essential personnel from its eight offshore Gulf of Mexico assets. "some drilling operations have been safely suspended," the company added in a statement. " A tropical storm has been upgraded to a hurricane The National Hurricane Center said the storm, traveling at a speed of 15 miles per hour, intensified into a hurricane on Friday and is expected to hit western Cuba later in the day. The hurricane is expected to follow the northwest orbit into the Gulf of Mexico in the United States early Saturday, remain as strong as a hurricane, and further escalate to a strong hurricane early Sunday before heading north. It will hit the central Louisiana coast as a strong hurricane. A strong hurricane has winds of more than 110 miles per hour. In addition, the Louisiana offshore oil port (LOOP) said that although the receipt and delivery of goods at the Cloverley hub remained normal, it was carrying out its storm plan. The United States Coast Guard has begun preparing for hurricanes, imposing restrictions on ports from Mobile, Alabama to Port Arthur, Texas. The port remains open, but with restrictions, strong winds are expected to arrive within 72 hours and may begin to close as the hurricane approaches. Oil refineries and manufacturers along the Gulf Coast of the United States are closely monitoring the progress of the hurricane. Julie King, a spokesman for ExxonMobil, said: "our chemical and oil refineries in Baton Rouge and Beaumont have launched hurricane response procedures to deal with extreme weather. We are communicating with federal, state and local contingency planning officials about the measures we have taken to deal with the storm. " The hurricane will pass through the heart of the oil-producing region of the Gulf of Mexico. The current forecast trajectory indicates that the hurricane will pass through the center of the oil-producing region of the Gulf of Mexico in the United States. The Gulf of Mexico produces about 1.8 million barrels of crude oil a day, accounting for 17% of total U. S. production, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration ((EIA)). As Ida approaches the Gulf of Mexico, several LNG ships continue to load and move in and out of liquefied terminals in Louisiana and Texas. As of Thursday morning, there were two tankers at Sabine pass Wharf in southwestern Louisiana; no tanker loading was seen at the nearby Cameron LNG Terminal or the Freeport LNG terminal south of Houston, Texas. None of the three facilities revealed any direct plans to reduce operations before the storm. Everyone is monitoring Ida.
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