Hurricane Ida has stopped oil production in the Gulf of Mexico

Hurricane Ida has virtually stopped oil and gas production in the New Orleans area. In US Gulf waters, up to 95 percent of drilling rigs and other mining equipment have stopped operating. Miners estimate the loss at 1.74 million barrels per day. Natural gas production also fell, by about 85 percent. Six refineries in the New Orleans area have closed, and refining capacity has been significantly reduced. Losses can also have a negative impact on the price of oil, as the Gulf of Mexico is home to nearly a fifth of oil and gas production in the entire United States. The CNN portal informed about it. "Hurricanes usually have very negative consequences for the oil industry. Six refineries are now standing against Ida. We will soon find out what damage the wind and flood caused to the oil industry this time, "Andy Lipow, president of consulting firm Lipow Oil Associates, told CNN Business. Three other refineries in the Baaton Rouge area are now operating in limited mode due to the hurricane. At present, up to 700,000 barrels of oil are produced here daily. That's about 3.5 percent of US total daily consumption. Colonial Pipeline, the largest operator of petroleum pipelines in the United States, has cut off fuel supplies from Houston to Greensboro, North Carolina. Stocks are still available at terminals in the southeastern United States. Phillips 66 shut down its Alliance refinery complex on the Belle Chasse coast on Saturday. Oil companies in the Gulf of Mexico have evacuated a total of 279 production platforms in recent days, or about 50 percent of all platforms in the area. Eleven mining ships also sailed out of the reach of the hurricane. Oil prices rose massively before the hurricane, and the effects of the hurricane are expected to continue to rise. Over the last ten days, the price of Brent North Sea crude oil per barrel has risen by almost eight dollars, an increase of about 10 percent. According to meteorologists, Hurricane Ida is extremely dangerous. On a five-point Saffir-Simpson scale, it is a fourth-category hurricane, accompanied by winds of up to 240 kilometers per hour. Hurricane Ida struck exactly 16 years after Hurricane Katrina, which claimed more than 1,880 lives and caused extensive property damage in the same area. According to meteorologists, Katrina was a degree weaker than Ida. However, the Louisiana government hopes that it will to do less damage and claim fewer lives as a result of extensive flood infrastructure investments made by the state of Louisiana and the city of New Orleans after 2005.