Shell, Chevron, and Harbour Energy have begun curtailing oil production and evacuating personnel from offshore facilities in the Gulf of Mexico as Hurricane Isaias approaches the northern Gulf Coast.
Chevron said Wednesday that operations at four of its Gulf facilities are being wound down and all personnel there are being pulled out, while its other five installations are running normally, according to the Wall Street Journal . Shell said five of its locations are being shut down and cleared of workers, with nonessential staff also removed from a sixth. Harbour Energy, which entered the Gulf through its acquisition of LLOG Exploration in December last year, said it has also begun reducing production and evacuating personnel at select facilities, according to the Wall Street Journal. BP said it is removing nonessential personnel from its offshore facilities.
By midday Wednesday, the U.S. Marine Minerals Administration reported that roughly 511,619 barrels per day — equivalent to 25% of Gulf output — had been taken offline. About 16% of natural gas production in the Gulf has also been curtailed.
The National Hurricane Center said Isaias became a hurricane Wednesday night and is forecast to track north of the Yucatan Peninsula on Thursday, then hit the northern Gulf Coast sometime late Friday or early Saturday. Early Thursday, the storm was positioned roughly 420 miles southwest of the Mississippi River's mouth, tracking east-northeast at 8 mph and carrying maximum sustained winds of 80 mph, according to NPR . A hurricane watch is in effect from Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, to Indian Pass, Florida.
Isaias is the first Atlantic hurricane of the 2026 season, ending an extended stretch of inactivity attributed to a Super El Niño climate pattern. NPR, citing Philip Klotzbach, a research scientist at Colorado State University, noted that going back to 1851, the historical record shows only three hurricane seasons that produced zero hurricanes by October 7.
Oil prices rose Thursday as the production shut-ins added to existing market pressures, according to the Wall Street Journal. December Brent crude settled at $105.23 a barrel, up 5% on the day, and December West Texas Intermediate climbed 5% to $92.70 a barrel. Energy markets have also faced pressure from a surge in Houthi militant strikes on Saudi Arabia and attacks on tankers in the Persian Gulf, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Gulf operators had already curtailed 185,120 barrels a day — about 9.2% of offshore production — by Tuesday morning as the storm was forming, before personnel evacuations had begun. The Marine Minerals Administration figure had more than doubled by midday Wednesday as the storm intensified and companies accelerated their preparations.
