Apache ready for action post-Isaac

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HOUSTON, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- All production facilities in the Gulf of Mexico are back in service about a month after a Category 1 hurricane hit the U.S. coast, Apache Corp. announced.

Energy companies in the Gulf of Mexico and along the southern U.S. coast shuttered facilities ahead of Hurricane Isaac, which struck the region as a Category 1 storm in late August.

The U.S. Interior Department's Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement estimated that around 8 percent of the usual daily oil production was shut-in. In terms of natural gas, about 6 percent of the daily natural gas production was idled.

Apache Corp., one of the oil companies operating in the Gulf of Mexico, said it evacuated 750 employees ahead of the storm. Production totaling about 24,000 bpd and 91 million cubic feet of gas per day was idled as a result.

The company said this week its production facilities in the Gulf of Mexico were back online following suspensions related to the hurricane.

"We remain focused on drilling our extensive inventory of oil and liquids-rich locations as we put the temporary disruptions from August and September behind us," said Apache President and Chief Operating Officer Rodney Eichler.