BP says evacuating some workers from US Gulf oil platforms

BP Plc said on Wednesday it was evacuating some workers from its oil and natural gas platforms in the Gulf of Mexico as a low-pressure system threatened to strengthen into a tropical storm. BP said on its website that workers not essential to oil and gas production were being evacuated as some forecasts suggested the weather system could cross the central Gulf, where BP operates four platforms.

Those include Thunder Horse, the largest platform in the world, which can produce up to 250,000 barrels per day of oil and 200 million cubic feet of natural gas. The company also said oil and natural gas production at all BP-operated platforms remains online at this time.