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All Gulf of Mexico crude prod halted

All Gulf of Mexico crude prod halted

Sep 23, 2005 — NEW YORK (Reuters) - Essentially all Gulf of Mexico crude oil production and 30 percent of U.S. oil refinery production was shut as Hurricane Rita approached the Texas and Louisiana coasts.

Oil prices dropped Friday afternoon as Rita was downgraded to a Category 3 at maximum sustained winds of 125 mph.

About 72 percent of natural gas production was shut in by Friday, the U.S. Minerals Management Service said.

The MMS said 99.1 percent of crude production was shut.

The storm has forced shut 15 big U.S. refineries, adding to the four that had remained shut after Hurricane Katrina hit land August 29.

With nearly 30 percent of U.S. refining operations closed, there are worries about fuel shortages and spiking pump prices.

At 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT), the center of Hurricane Rita was located about 190 miles southeast of Galveston, Texas and about 175 miles southeast of Port Arthur, Texas.

The NHC expects Rita to continue moving toward the northwest at 10 mph for the next 24 hours, which would put the core of Rita over the southwestern Louisiana and upper Texas coasts early Saturday.

The nation's biggest offshore oil port, the LOOP in Louisiana, was also forced to shut down its operations, which will curtail imports and offloading of domestic crude produced in the Gulf.

The New York Mercantile Exchange on Friday declared force majeure on September natural gas deliveries due to the closure of the Sabine Pipeline which operates the key Henry Hub delivery point in Erath, Louisiana.


LINK: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=1153105