Hurricane season tests Gulf of Mexico

The region has mostly avoided devastating violent storms over the past decade, but 2020 may have been a turning point

Hurricane Ida has been a powerful reminder of the vulnerability of one of the most important oil- and gas-producing regions in the US. At the storm’s peak, almost all Gulf of Mexico production was shut in and one-third remained offline over three weeks after the storm barrelled through. For European major Shell, its West Delta 143 complex will stay offline until end-2021, keeping around 12pc of total Gulf production from the market. The US Gulf enjoyed a decade of relative calm, with the last major storm season back in 2008. But the 2020 hurricane season changed all that. It was the most active Atlantic storm season on record, with five hurricanes and one tropical storm, leaving many to ques