HOUSTON, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Shell paused some

drilling operations at its Perdido and Whale offshore platforms

in the Gulf of Mexico on Monday, as Storm Francine approaches

the Texas coast.

The National Hurricane Center said it expects a disturbance

off the coast of Mexico to develop into a tropical storm on

Monday and potentially become a hurricane on Wednesday, ahead of

a Louisiana landfall.

Both Perdido and Whale are currently in the path of the

storm.

Whale's platform was installed in February 2024 around 320

kilometers (200 miles) southwest of Houston. The Shell-operated

facility is scheduled to become operational at the end of the

year to produce some 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day

at its peak.