MarketWatch: Shell's Mars platform to be down until 2H 2006 – Enbridge: “The key Mars oil and natural gas production platform in the Gulf of Mexico probably won't be back on line until the second half of 2006”: Tuesday 4 October 2005

HOUSTON (MarketWatch) -- The key Mars oil and natural gas production platform in the Gulf of Mexico probably won't be back on line until the second half of 2006, an executive with Enbridge Inc. said Tuesday.

The platform is majority owned and operated by Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB.LN), but Enbridge pipelines move the gas produced there. Two other nearby Shell platforms - Ursa and Mensa - will be back up in November, said Doug Krenz, vice president for gas transportation at Enbridge.

"We expect to have the production back up in November at Ursa and Mensa," Krenz said in a presentation to investors. "Mars is a little longer-term fix, probably second half of next year."

Shell said in early September that Mars may be out for the year. The facility, co-owned by BP PLC (BP), is the most significant known to have been badly damaged by Hurricane Katrina. A photograph posted on Shell's Web site shows a collapse of topside structures.

Mars produces the Gulf Coast's benchmark grade of sour crude, the type most used and imported by U.S. refiners, and pumps out high volumes of natural gas.

The Mars platform is designed to produce 220,000 barrels a day of oil and 220 million cubic feet a day of gas. Shell said in May that the platform was producing 140,000 barrels of oil and 156 million cubic feet of gas a day.

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