WSJ: "Gulf Energy Output Still Hobbled in Ike's Aftermath," by Ben Casselman, 8 November 2008, page A3.
Figure
shows that hurricane Ike (13 September) stopped oil-gas
production in Gulf of Mexico. Two months later one-quarter is still
offline.
Gulf produces one-quarter US crude oil production and one-seventh natural gas. Repairing deepwater platforms is much less expensive than replacing them. For Ike, none of the deepwater platforms were destroyed with damage restricted to underwater infrastructure and pipelines. But Ike did destroy 54 oil and gas platforms (and damaged 95 more) in Galveston area where Ike "landed." Restoring the damage will take 2-6 months. In contrast, Rita in 2005 destroyed 108 platforms. Two months later, figures shows that 1/3 production off line.
Data for WSJ-figure supplied by US Minerals Management Service