As Hurricane Isaias rapidly approaches the Gulf Coast of the United States, multiple energy companies have evacuated offshore platform personnel and shut down operations, causing serious disruptions to oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico.

Serious disruptions to oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico

The National Hurricane Center of the United States stated that as the first hurricane of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season, Hurricane Isaias had maximum sustained winds of 85 miles per hour (140 kilometers per hour) early Thursday and strengthened to a Category 3 hurricane on Friday, with winds reaching 120 miles per hour. It is expected to make landfall along the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico from Friday evening to early Saturday morning local time.

The Marine Energy Administration, which is responsible for regulating offshore oil and gas operators in the Gulf of Mexico, stated that in response to the storm, 121 production platforms and 5 non powered positioning drilling platforms out of 371 production platforms in the United States have completed personnel evacuation, resulting in a reduction of approximately 15% in crude oil production in the United States.

The agency cited operator reports stating that as of Thursday evening, approximately 63% of crude oil production capacity in the Gulf of Mexico (1.3 million barrels per day) had been shut down; The daily natural gas production exceeding 1.1 billion cubic feet has been suspended, accounting for approximately 57% of the total production capacity in the region.

On Wednesday the day before, the proportion of shut down crude oil production capacity was 25%, and the proportion of shut down natural gas production capacity was 16%.

According to a model forecast by consulting firm Earth Science Associates, the loss of crude oil production in the Gulf of Mexico could reach 9 million barrels throughout the hurricane period, far exceeding the 7.1 million barrels of loss caused by Tropical Storm Bertha in July.

Earth science model data shows that the companies most affected by the storm include BP, Chevron, Eni, Murphy Oil, Shell, and others.

Storm path 'not the worst'

The weather forecaster warned that this storm will bring deadly storm surges, tornadoes, and floods. Some areas in Florida have issued mandatory evacuation orders, and Alabama has also declared a state of emergency.

The National Hurricane Center of the United States reported that at 1pm Central Time on Friday (2am Beijing Time on Saturday), the hurricane was located about 355 miles (570 kilometers) south of the mouth of the Mississippi River and was moving at a speed of 10 miles (17 kilometers/hour) towards the northeast northeast direction.

But currently, it seems that this storm will bypass most of the oil and gas facilities.

Debnir Choudhury, the head of S&P's Global Energy Americas refining business, said that the storm's path is not yet the worst. After all, the storm is moving eastward, not westward, and most oil operations (such as refineries) are located to the west.

Brian Domanga, the director of the Gulf of America region at the U.S. Marine Energy Administration, said that the storm is "making a sharp turn, almost to the east of the location of the most important infrastructure." "Currently, it has passed over the south side of some of our major deepwater oil and gas facilities, and then moved closely to the eastern boundary where the infrastructure is located