BP Shutting Gulf of Mexico Output, Evacuating Offshore Crews

By Joe Carroll

Sept. 10 (Bloomberg) -- BP Plc, Europe's second-largest oil company, began shutting production from oil and natural-gas platforms in the Gulf of Mexico today in anticipation of Hurricane Ike.

The London-based company plans to finish evacuating all offshore workers in the region today, BP said in a recorded telephone message.

As of 8 a.m. Miami time, Ike was a Category 1 hurricane, the weakest on the five-tier Saffir-Simpson scale, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. The storm is expected to strike the coast of south-central Texas on Sept. 13.

The Hague-based Royal Dutch Shell Plc is Europe's largest oil company.

To contact the reporter on this story: Joe Carroll in Chicago at jcarroll8@bloomberg.net