UPDATE 1-Chevron returning offshore workers, restarts output halted by U.S. storm

(Adds details about storm and background about Chevron facilities)

HOUSTON, June 19 (Reuters) - Chevron Corp said on Saturday it was returning offshore workers who had been evacuated ahead of Tropical Storm Claudette from its Gulf of Mexico production platforms.

Chevron said it was ramping up production at its Tahiti platform where production had been halted by the storm. Other Chevron-operated facilities in the Gulf are running at normal levels, it said in a notice on its website https://www.chevron.com/media/updates.

Claudette made landfall in southeast Louisiana in the morning, disrupting oil and gas production in the central Gulf of Mexico and bringing tropical-storm force winds and heavy rain to parts of the Gulf Coast.

Earlier, the third-largest oil producer in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico had withdrawn non-essential staff from three platforms and fully evacuated a fourth. (Reporting by Gary McWilliams; Editing by Richard Chang and David Gregorio)