The US Minerals Management Service (MMS) has launched a ‘hurricane web site’ to explain the preparation that goes into protecting human life and environmental safety when hurricanes threaten facilities in the Gulf of Mexico.
Burton
MMS Director Johnnie Burton said, ‘The general public tends to focus on hurricanes only during hurricane season and then only when there is a threat to land. The MMS prepares every year, throughout the year, in order to produce the outstanding safety record demonstrated during 2005 Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma.’
Katrina
Katrina and Rita affected some 3,000 oil and gas facilities in the Gulf of Mexico without loss of life or serious injury. All subsurface safety valves operated at 100% efficiency, sealing oil and gas wells below the ocean floor, and protecting the Gulf waters from contamination.
Evacuation
The MMS Hurricane website contains safety and evacuation information, environmental studies and technology backgrounders. The site also houses historical hurricane data, pictures and statistics on production that was shut in and returned to production during the 2005 storms. Visit the site on www.mms.gov/2006Hurricanes/2006HurricaneSeason.htm.
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