Isaac shutters gulf oil production

As much as 24,000 barrels of oil production per day is at risk because of the threat to Gulf of Mexico installations from Tropical Storm Isaac, a company said. The National Hurricane Center issued a hurricane warning for states bordering the Gulf of Mexico as Tropical Storm Isaac is expected to develop into a hurricane. At 5 a.m. Monday, the center of the storm was about 180 miles southwest of Fort Myers, Fla., and 405 miles southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River. It was moving west-northwest at 14 mph. Apache Corp., one of the oil companies operating in the Gulf of Mexico, evacuated 750 employees ahead of the storm. "Operated production totaling about 24,000 barrels of oil per day and 91 million cubic feet of gas per day has been or will be curtailed by day's end in anticipation of the possible approach of Tropical Storm Isaac," the company said in a statement. The hurricane center said Isaac would move over the eastern Gulf of Mexico by Monday and approach the northern Gulf Coast later this week before it develops into a Category 2 hurricane. Bloomberg News reports crude oil prices were up as the storm approached major offshore installations.