Pemex resuming operations after Hurricane Dean

MEXICO CITY, Aug 22 (Reuters) Mexican state oil company Pemex will resume production on Friday after Hurricane Dean tore through the Gulf of Mexico, forcing it to evacuate hundreds of platforms and cut production, the company said.

Pemex said today it expects to resume 80 per cent of normal oil and gas production by early next week and 100 percent production later in the week, barring major damage from the storm.

Pemex said it flew over the oilfields today to check for damage, but the company did not specifically say whether it found any damage.

Dean plowed through the Gulf, where Pemex has several hundred oil and gas wells, yesterday and Wednesday after hammering Mexico's Caribbean resort of Tulum.

Mexico removed over 18,000 Pemex staff and shut down 80 percent of its crude production ahead of the arrival of Dean, which was a potentially catastrophic Category 5 hurricane when it first hit land on Mexico's Caribbean coast.

Mexico, one of the top three suppliers of US crude imports, shut down 2.65 million barrels per day of production -- slightly more than Venezuela's total output -- and closed ports as a precaution.

Pemex said it had inventory of 10.5 million barrels of oil prior to Dean, which it will begin to load onto ships once ports reopen. Mexico's three major oil ports were still closed to shipments today.

Dean smacked into the coast of the state of Veracruz on Wednesday afternoon as a Category 2 storm with screaming winds and torrential rain that flooded towns, forced thousands into shelters and worried world oil markets.

Dean lost strength soon after landing near Poza Rica and was downgraded to a tropical storm, but its rains fell in Mexico City more than 200 km away.

Poza Rica is home to oil storage facilities and energy pipelines, although it is not a major producing area.

REUTERS CS BST0319