As Category 3 Hurricane Isaias approached the US Gulf coast, producers shut
about 1.46 mln b/d of crude — roughly 72% of regional output. The US Bureau of
Ocean Energy Management said personnel were evacuated from 129 offshore
platforms and two mobile drilling rigs were moved out of the storm path as of
1200 EDT Friday. BP shut Thunder Horse and Na Kika and removed non‑essential
staff from three additional platforms. The outages pushed Gulf differentials
wider: Mars crude traded about $3/bbl over WTI and Thunder Horse crude carried a
premium of more than $4/bbl for a second straight session.