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PHOTO : OILPRICE

Oil producers shut 13 percent of offshore crude oil production by Saturday, in the US-regulated northern Gulf of Mexico as tropical storms Laura and Marco were forecast to cross the region next week. Royal Dutch Shell said it began shutting down production at most of its offshore operations on Saturday, joining energy majors BP and Chevron, which began shutdowns on Friday.  In addition to the 240,785 barrels per day (bpd) in oil production shut in, as energy companies were evacuating workers. The 4.39 per cent, or 119 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd), of natural gas output from the Gulf was turned off by Saturday, the US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said. Storms Marco and Laura are poised to enter the Gulf early next week, with each forecast to make landfalls on the coast by mid-week. However, neither storm is expected to become a major hurricane and the forecast storm tracks cover a wide area//CNA