Shell (SHEL.L), opens new tab paused some drilling operations at its Perdido and Whale offshore platforms in the Gulf of Mexico on Monday, as Storm Francine approaches the Texas coast.

The National Hurricane Center said it expects a disturbance off the coast of Mexico to develop into a tropical storm on Monday and potentially become a hurricane on Wednesday, ahead of a Louisiana landfall.

Both Perdido and Whale are currently in the path of the storm.

Whale’s platform was installed in February 2024 around 320 kilometers (200 miles) southwest of Houston. The Shell-operated facility is scheduled to become operational at the end of the year to produce some 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day at its peak.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Georgina McCartney in Houston; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)