For the 2009 hurricane season, America’s oil and natural gas industry continues to build upon critical lessons learned from last year's major hurricanes, Gustav and Ike, as well as earlier record breaking storms, such as 2005's Katrina and Rita and 2004's Ivan.
The industry plays two primary roles in preparing for hurricanes:
- First, to help gain a better understanding of the environmental conditions in and around the Gulf of Mexico during hurricane or tropical storm activity and then apply that knowledge to make offshore and onshore facilities less vulnerable.
- Second, to facilitate industry reliability by fostering collaboration among member companies and with federal, state and local governments and with other industries.
Companies in all segments also continue to independently improve preparedness. They have, for example, reviewed and updated emergency response plans, established redundant communication paths and made pre-arrangements with suppliers to help insure they have adequate resources during an emergency.
The nation’s oil and natural gas industry also invests heavily in advanced technology to produce the energy our nation needs while protecting the environment. The industry is committed to safety and protecting the environment during hurricanes – in fact, from 1998 to 2007 the industry invested $101 billion in environmental protection, or nearly $335 for every person living in the U.S. And we continually strive to improve our record for this year’s hurricane season and beyond.
Above all, the industry is dedicated to ensuring the safety of its employees. Evacuations are provided from offshore facilities the minute a hurricane comes into radar. Employees are given the most up-to-date reports on storm status and its path of movement.
These combined efforts are critical since the Gulf of Mexico provides almost 30 percent of the oil and about 20 percent of the natural gas produced in the United States (approximately 70 percent of the oil supply comes from deepwater facilities). The Gulf Coast region is also home to almost half of U.S. refining capacity.