Oil firms begin U.S. Gulf evacuation on Gustav threat

By Erwin Seba

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Energy companies in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico began evacuating staff from offshore platforms on Wednesday as Tropical Storm Gustav barrelled toward the oil and natural gas-rich region.

Forecasters expect the storm to intensify into a major hurricane before it hits the Gulf, potentially forcing the shut-in of 85 percent of production in the region that accounts for a quarter of U.S. oil output and 15 percent of natural gas, according to Planalytics.

Shell (RDSa.L) said it was evacuating about 300 nonessential workers from the Gulf of Mexico production platforms, while Transocean Inc (RIG.N) said it has pulled 30 workers off drilling rigs.

BP (BP.L) said it was also pulling nonessential workers from the Gulf.

Shell and BP said production was unaffected by the evacuations.

Other companies were preparing to remove staff as well, according to a helicopter company involved in evacuations.

"Starting today, we're taking out nonessentials for most of the major oil companies," said Jim Shugart, executive vice president/sales for ERA Helicopters.

Other companies including ConocoPhillips (COP.N) were still monitoring the storm.