Tropical Storm Edouard Heads Toward Oil Rigs
NEW ORLEANS — Tropical Storm Edouard is spinning toward the coasts of Texas and Louisiana and it’s threatening to pick up strength and gain near-hurricane speeds over the next 24 hours.
In its path are some of the Gulf’s oil and natural gas platforms.
But a Houston-based securities firm specializing in the energy industry describes Edouard as a “little tropical storm tike” — not like those “that rip things up and spike gas prices.”
The firm says the storm isn’t likely to disrupt production.
Shell Oil agrees, but says it has begun to evacuate about 40 workers from some of its operations in the western Gulf. The company says no further evacuations are planned for now.
ExxonMobil hasn’t evacuated any workers or cut production so far, but a spokeswoman says the oil giant is preparing its platforms for heavy wind and rain and considering whether to evacuate some workers.
