Oil Rises, Gasoline Sets Record on Hurricane Katrina Damage Crude oil rose for a third day and gasoline reached a record after Hurricane Katrina ripped through the U.S. Gulf coast, shutting oil and gas production, creating fuel shortages and threatening to cause $25 billion of damage to the U.S. economy. ``You're probably going to have problems getting some of these refineries started again,'' said Tony Nunan, an assistant general manager at Mitsubishi Corp. in Tokyo. ``The U.S. just doesn't have enough refineries. You are going to see $3 gasoline at the pump.'' To ensure supplies, oil refiners and fuel wholesalers across most of the U.S. started rationing deliveries to filling stations and convenience stores, while tanks ran dry at some terminals in the Midwest, South and Southeast. The storm's death toll may reach into the hundreds as rescue efforts continued and looting broke out in New Orleans, where the National Guard patrolled the streets in a bid to preserve order. Crude oil for October delivery today rose as much as 82 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $70.63 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was at $70.54 at 8:33 a.m. London time. Yesterday, it reached $70.85, the highest since the contract started trading in 1983. Oil companies sent helicopter crews to assess damage to the nation's most important oil and gas producing region. Royal Dutch Shell Plc said its Mars platform, which can pump 15 percent of the U.S. Gulf's crude oil, was damaged by Katrina on Aug. 29. Gasoline futures extended yesterday's 20 percent jump as refineries in Louisiana and Mississippi remained without power. Consumers, Currencies Gasoline for September delivery surged 41.39 cents, or 20 percent, to $2.4745 a gallon yesterday. The contract, which expires today, reached a record $2.57 in after-hours trading. Wholesale gasoline prices surged 68 cents, or 28 percent, to $3.1245 a gallon yesterday at Gulf Coast terminals, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. In Chicago, wholesale prices jumped 61 cents to $2.9497 a gallon. U.S. stocks dropped, led by retailers, as rising fuel costs leave consumers with less to spend. Asian currencies mostly fell on concern a 67 percent gain in crude oil prices in the past year will slow the region's economic growth and make it harder for governments to cut their budget deficits. Eight refineries in Louisiana and Mississippi closed during the weekend, halting at least 1.79 million barrels a day of capacity. Some may remain closed for weeks as repairs are made and power is restored. Television pictures from the areas affected by Katrina showed flooded oil refinery sites. Valero Energy Corp. estimated that its refinery in St. Charles, Louisiana, will resume operations in one to two weeks. ConocoPhillips, Chevron Corp., Motiva Enterprises LLC, Murphy Oil Corp., Marathon Oil Corp. and Chalmette Refining also closed plants during the weekend. Rocky Mountains ``Almost all the refiners are now putting marketers on allocation east of the Rocky Mountains,'' Dan Gilligan, president of the Petroleum Marketers Association of America said. ``Some terminals in Ohio, Tennessee, Arkansas and South Carolina are completely out of product. It's just a very precarious situation we're in.'' An Energy Department report today may show the country's gasoline stockpiles had their ninth straight decline last week, before the storm, falling 0.8 percent to 194.8 million barrels, according to the median forecast from a Bloomberg survey of 14 analysts. U.S. crude oil inventories probably gained another 1 million barrels last week. Supplies the week before were at 322.93 million barrels, almost 11 percent higher than a year earlier. The U.S. government is considering a request from one refining company for a loan of oil from the nation's 700 million-barrel Strategic Petroleum Reserve, established in the 1970s to prevent shortages in times of crisis. ``The government's offer of barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve has mitigated some of the upward price pressure on crude oil,'' said Jason Schenker, an economist at Wachovia Corp. in Charlotte. Katrina has shut 1.4 million barrels of daily crude-oil output, according to the U.S. Minerals Management Service, which manages offshore resources. At least seven oil drilling rigs were adrift in the Gulf of Mexico yesterday and two companies said they couldn't find their rigs and platforms after Katrina plowed through the area. Buoys, Platforms Katrina closed the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, which usually handles about 1 million barrels of crude oil a day, or 11 percent of U.S. imports. It consists of mooring buoys, platforms and pipelines. The port will not resume oil shipments until power is restored, scheduling manager Mark Bugg said. Entergy Corp., which provides power for the pipeline system connecting the port to refineries, said it will take weeks to rebuild its electricity network in Louisiana. Shell, Europe's second-biggest oil company, said its Capline crude oil pipeline connected to Gulf of Mexico offshore production was shut because of power failures after the storm. Port Fourchon, Louisiana, the base for three-quarters of support services to the Gulf's deepwater oil and gas facilities, is shut because of the storm, said Port Director Ted Falgout. ``We have yet to enter because there are several large vessels on the highway in the port itself,'' Falgout said yesterday. Repairs to platforms and pipelines will be delayed if the storm deposited silt in the port's channel, he said. The storm also shut 8.8 billion cubic feet of natural-gas output, equivalent to 88 percent of the total amount of gas produced in the Gulf, the Minerals Management Service said yesterday. Natural gas for October delivery rose 52 cents, or 4.7 percent, to close at $11.659 per million British thermal units in New York, the highest since the contract was introduced in 1990. Futures touched $12.30 in after-hours trading today, a record intraday price. PIN/Bloomberg