UPDATE 1-Independence Hub Q3 rates cut due to maintenance

(Recasts, adds details)

NEW YORK Aug 4 (Reuters) - The huge Independence Hub natural gas production platform in the Gulf of Mexico will run at reduced rates through the third quarter due to maintenance, operator Anadarko Petroleum Corp (APC.N) said on Tuesday in an earnings call.

A company spokesman said the platform, the deepest production platform in the Gulf and the largest offshore natural gas processing facility, would still produce large volumes of gas despite the reduction.

"We're still going to run at about 800 million cubic feet a day or so, maybe a little lower from time to time, but it won't be up around the 900 mmcf that it has been," Anadarko spokesman John Christiansen said.

Christiansen said part of the routine maintenance would mean shutting in "clusters of wells connected to allocation separators", but that the platform would, "still be running and still be producing a lot of gas."

He said the company expects the work to be completed by the end of the third quarter and its output returned to about 900 mmcf per day.

On Monday, Anadarko said the platform was operating near normal production volumes despite market rumors to the contrary.

The platform was producing near 780 mmcf on Monday, Christiansen said.

Anadarko operates the platform for its owners, Enterprise Products Partners LP (EPD.N) (80 percent) and Helix Energy Solutions Group Inc (20 percent).

The Independence Hub is located in 8,000 feet (2,440 metres) of water in Mississippi Canyon 920 in the Gulf of Mexico. It is the largest offshore natural gas processing facility with the capacity to produce up to 1 billion cubic feet per day, or about 12 percent of total U.S. offshore Gulf gas production. (Reporting by Eileen Moustakis and Anna Driver; Editing by Marguerita Choy)