By Anjana Anil and Sheila Dang
HOUSTON, July 20 (Reuters) - Chevron is shutting-in production at its Petronius facility in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, and all associated personnel are being moved onshore in preparation for Tropical Depression Two, the company said in a statement on Monday.
The U.S. oil major also said it is transporting nonessential personnel from its Tubular Bells and Blind Faith platforms.
"Production from our other Chevron-operated Gulf of America assets remains at normal levels," the statement
said.
The depression could strengthen into Tropical Storm Bertha later on Monday. The National Hurricane Center issued a tropical storm watch that is in effect from the Ochlockonee River in Florida westward to the Jefferson/Plaquemines Parish border in Louisiana, and gradual strengthening is expected over the next two days.
The storm system is expected to bring 2 to 4 inches of rainfall — with isolated higher totals around 8 inches (20.3 cm) — through Friday along the Gulf Coast from western Florida to the Middle Texas Coast, the NHC added.
About 2 million barrels of oil could be lost across the U.S. Gulf through the duration of the storm, a marked increase from the 10,000 barrels impacted by Tropical Storm Arthur last month, according to a model forecast from consulting firm Earth Science Associates. There are more higher-production oil platforms in the path of Tropical Depression Two, the company said by email.
The U.S. Gulf of America federal offshore region produced nearly 2 million barrels of crude oil per day in March, accounting for roughly 14% of total U.S. crude output, with Shell, BP, Chevron and Occidental Petroleum among the largest deepwater operators. The region's refining corridor, which runs from Corpus Christi, Texas to Pascagoula, Mississippi, holds around half of total U.S. refining capacity of 18.4 million barrels per day.
U.S. utility CenterPoint Energy on Monday said that it had activated its Emergency Operations Center, taking a series of actions to prepare for the storm.
"With the storm forecast to reach Greater Houston by Friday, if any weather-related outages occur, our crews will be ready to respond and restore power safely and as quickly as possible," CenterPoint Resilience VP Nathan Brownell said in a statement.
(Reporting by Anjana Anil in Bengaluru and Sheila Dang in Houston; Editing by Chris Reese, Nathan Crooks and Nick Zieminski)
