re: katrina: special report about rigs exposure
"In terms of exploration, more than half of the 231 offshore rigs (excluding inland barges) currently working in the US Gulf of Mexico were in Katrina's path.
A total of 48 rigs lay within the most adversely affected areas where winds were at hurricane force, blowing in excess of 74 MPH.
Another 69 rigs were located in waters that experienced tropical storm force winds of 36 to 74 MPH. In total, 117 rigs, valued at a combined total of over $7 billion, had to weather the storm.
As of Monday afternoon at 3pm, the US Coast Guard has reported that at least one, possibly two, deepwater rigs have lost their moorings and are floating freely in the Gulf.
"Operators Affected Hurricane Katrina forced operators to shut in over a million barrels of oil per day, according to the MMS. A total of nearly 2,800 platforms, more than 500 of them manned, were within the areas affected by the storm. Of those platforms, about 1,100 of them were within the direct path of the hurricane where they experienced hurricane force winds in excess of 74 miles per hour.
ChevronTexaco was the operator most heavily impacted by the passing of Hurricane Katrina, with more then 160 platforms facing hurricane force winds, and another 230 platforms exposed to tropical storm force wind"s.
