Hurricane Ida’s disruption to the U.S. offshore energy production in the Gulf of Mexico is the worst in 16 years. It has already stressed domestic and global supply chains, further testing the Federal Reserve’s “transitory” inflation narrative. Gulf Coast hurricanes usually cause minor disruptions in offshore oil and gas production, but this time around, output from the region has been significantly reduced due to Ida’s 150 mph winds that damaged platforms and onshore support facilities. What this will mean is a long recovery for offshore energy production to return. Reuters notes 79% of the region’s offshore oil production remains offline. Since the first oil platforms were evacuated ahead of Ida , there’s been a loss of 17.5 million barrels of oil. Some energy analysts are expecting U.S. production could drop by 30 million barrels this year due to the sluggish return. “After Katrina, which made landfall 16 years ago […]