landed at Sabine Pass as a category 3 hurricane but she plowed through
Gulf of Mexico offshore oilfields at a Category 5 level knocking down jackup rigs and setting deepwater floating rigs adrift.
As storm generated seas rose to meet the US Gulf continental shelf
drilling rigs and fixed production platforms were severely damaged and
in some cases sunk.
The hull of the Rowan Louisiana was found aground on the Louisiana
coastline. The Halifax and Odessa were moved off of their drilling
locations sustaining undetermined damages.
Noble Drilling’s semi-submersible rig Max Smith was dealt a one-two
punch, first hit by Hurricane Rita and then by Chevron’s Typhoon. The
rig was under contract to BHP at Green Canyon 238 when she was blown
off location and straight into Chevron’s Tension Leg Platform named
(irony upon irony) “Typhoon.” The collision broke the Tension Leg
Platform cables setting the “Typhoon” lose and ultimately capsizing the
TLP.
If these early reports are any
indication of the total offshore facilities damage caused by Rita,
natural gas and oil prices will be moving up smartly to new highs in
the weeks ahead.
Link via TheOilDrum, who notes
reports: “in the initial assessment, multiple rigs are missing and no
word on platforms yet.” (it’s early days on this…there’s 4k+ rigs out
there)