In October 2002, Hurricane Lili moved through the U.S. Gulf of Mexico with sustained winds reaching 145 miles per hour and waves exceeding or matching the 100-year design criteria of the oil and gas facilities in her path. With intensity reaching a full category four storm over the warm gulf waters, Lili made landfall on Louisiana shores as a category one.

A majority of the 4,000 oil and gas facilities in Federal waters were shut-down forcing evacuation of more than 25,000 workers. Of the 800 facilities lying in the direct path of Hurricane Lili, only six platforms (all age 20 years or greater) experienced substantial damage, two of which were submerged in place. Of the ninety-nine active drilling rigs, four experienced substantial damage. No fatalities, injuries or major pollution events were reported. A medium sized oil spill of 350-barrels was reported some 18 miles offshore Louisiana. The lease operator conducted emergency response to the spill and recovered an estimated one-third of the oil while the remainder dispersed due to weathering. In total, there were nine reported instances of pollution with the remaining eight being less than 3 barrels each.

The BOEMRE Technology Assessment and Research (TA&R) Program initiated a program of research assessment and analysis of the damage to offshore facilities as a result of Hurricane Lili. Combining research from Lili with the knowledge gained from a similar 1992 BOEMRE Hurricane Andrew Research Program has helped measure and evaluate the ability of current industry standards and BOEMRE regulations to mitigate future hurricane impacts to facilities and environment. Click on a project number below to link to it's summary report.
 

Hurricane Lili Projects
466	Validation and Calibration of API-RP-2A Using Hurricane Lili to Update the Hurricane Andrew JIP Results that provided the basis for API Section 17
467	Hind Cast Study of Winds, Waves, and Currents in N. GOM in Hurricane Lili (2002)
469	Post Mortem Failure Assessment of Drilling Rigs During Hurricane Lili
471	Assessment of Performance of Deepwater Floating Production Facilities
503	Evaluate and Compare Hurricane-Induced Damage to Offshore Pipelines for Hurricane Lili – Rev. A