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Oil, gas production ramping up after Isaac
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The nation’s oil and gas hub along the Gulf Coast is slowly coming back to life in the aftermath of Hurricane Isaac.

Offshore oil platforms are beginning to ramp up production as crews are returning. Refineries are beginning to restart units as power is restored and floodwaters are cleared out. While a substantial amount of oil and gas production remains off line, production is coming back as expected. No major damage to oil platforms or refineries have been reported, and no further storm-related spikes in energy prices are expected.

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said Monday that 800,000 barrels per day of oil production remained offline, 58 percent of Gulf of Mexico production. About 100,000 barrels per day of production was restored between Sunday and Monday.

At the height of the storm 1.3 million barrels per day of oil production was suspended. The U.S. consumes an average of 19 million barrels of petroleum every day.

Companies have been quickly returning workers to platforms. About 12 percent of the region’s platforms were still without staff.

Nearly all of the Gulf’s offshore platforms and rigs were evacuated last week.Nine refineries in the path of Isaac are restarting or operating at reduced rates, according to the Energy Department. One refinery has returned to full operation and one, the Belle Chasse, La., refinery operated by Phillips 66, is still shut down.

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