⁍ Energy companies shut-in wells, pulled staff from offshore platforms and began securing coastal processing plants.

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⁍ U.S. crude oil futures were up 3% at $41.21, natural gas futures and gasoline futures both rose 2.6%.

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⁍ U.S. Gulf Coast is home to 45% of U.S. petroleum refining capacity and about 51% of U.S. natural gas processing plant capacity.

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– Most of the Gulf of Mexico’s offshore oil and gas production has been shut in as Hurricane Delta approaches. Most of the region’s offshore oil production has been shut in as Hurricane Delta raked across the Gulf of Mexico, halting most of the region’s offshore oil output, Reuters reports. Oil producers withdrew workers from 279 offshore facilities and moved 15 drilling rigs away from Delta’s winds. The storm was about 370 miles south of Cameron, Louisiana, and grinding toward the Louisiana coast at 13 miles per hour. Its tropical storm-force winds extend up to 125 miles from the storm’s center, the National Hurricane Center said. Delta is expected to intensify further over the Gulf’s warm waters and become a major hurricane with winds of 115 miles per hour before landfall in southwest Louisiana by Friday evening. Oil producers withdrew workers from 279 offshore facilities and moved 15 drilling rigs away from Delta’s winds. They have shut 1.69 million barrels per day of oil, or 92% of the region’s offshore oil, and 1.67 billion cubic feet per day, or nearly 62% of its natural gas output. Energy prices rose on the shut-ins and prospect for a new US economic stimulus. US crude oil futures were up 3% at $41.21, natural gas futures and gasoline futures both rose 2.6%. Natural gas futures reversed course after suffering losses.