Energy industry prepares for Hurricane Dean | 08.20.2007 | 07:12:59 | Views: 5641 | ID: August 20 '07: Officials in the energy industry have been preparing for Hurricane Dean as it heads toward the Yucatan Peninsula and Mexico, the Houston Chronicle reported. The storm, expected to become a Category 5 and could damage oil and natural gas rigs, however Dean's projected path shows the storm heading into mainland Mexico after passing the Yucatan. Meanwhile, in the U.S., President Bush issued a declaration of emergency for Texasallowing emergency federal funding and resources to be shipped to the state to help with response efforts, a Federal Emergency Management Agency press release announced. The Associated Press reported earlier last week that Texas officials had ordered fuel trucks to be stationed along evacuation routes if Dean struck the Texas coast. According to the Chronicle, Shell Oil Co., said on Friday that it had evacuated about 460 employees from the Gulf with more estimated to leave before the storm hits. Additionally, Shell had shut down "10,000 barrels of daily oil production and 15 million cubic feet of natural gas production." The Chronicle found that an existing 5 million cubic feet had already been shut down earlier from Tropical Storm Erin. Many companies in the area were evacuating non-essential employees from the platforms, the drillships and rigs. Most other energy companies in the Gulf had taken steps to either reduce employee populations out in the Gulf, or had taken pre-storm measures to stock-up on supplies and resources.
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