Oil workers return to Gulf of Mexico

U.S. oil and gas explorer Apache Corp. announced that workers evacuated from the Gulf of Mexico ahead of a tropical storm have returned.Apache said 368 workers were evacuated ahead of the storm. Production of more than 15 million cubic feet of natural gas and 1,890 barrels of oil per day was shuttered because of Tropical Storm Don.The company said it returned staff to its gulf rigs after the storm passed."Production shut in because of the storm has been restored," Apache said in a statement. "No damage was reported."The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement hurricane response team said about 6 percent of the oil production and 3.5 percent of the natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico was shut because of the storm.The National Hurricane Center in Miami issued an advisory for Tropical Storm Eugene. The storm was about 400 miles southwest of Acapulco. Elsewhere, the center said there was a high probability that a low-pressure system near the Lesser Antilles could develop into a tropical storm within 24 hours.