The US Gulf of Mexico has experienced losses of 490,241 barrel of oil per day and 313 million cubic feet of gas per day of natural gas caused by the Rafeal Hurricane, the US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) reported on Saturday.

BSEE reported a shutdown of approximately 28% of daily crude oil production and nearly 17% of daily natural gas production in the US Gulf of Mexico.

Notably, US Gulf of Mexico federal offshore oil production accounts for 15% of total US crude oil production and 2% of dry natural gas production.

The late season storm, Hurricane Rafael, entered the Gulf of Mexico as a powerful category three hurricane on Wednesday and moved into the central Gulf, prompting oil firms including BP, Shell, Chevron, Mobil, and many others to evacuate dozens of production and drilling facilities.

Oil and gas workers have been evacuated from 41 of the 371 manned production platforms, and seven drilling vessels have been moved out of the storm’s path, BSEE reported.

As of Saturday, Rafael had weakened into a tropical storm, but it is expected to remain in the central Gulf of Mexico for at least the next two days, moving slowly and causing ongoing impacts such as heavy rainfall, potential flooding, and strong winds.