The U.S. Gulf of Mexico oil patch continued to recover on Wednesday from Hurricane Ike, the worst storm it has faced in three years. At least five Texas refineries were restarting on the fifth day since Ike slammed into the Texas coast near Galveston and swept over Houston"s refinery row, and 10 others were awaiting electricity and industrial gases, some of which are made from natural gas.

As of Wednesday, 82.3 percent of the 7.4 billion cubic feet of natural gas and 95.9 percent of the 1.3 million barrels per day in oil taken daily from the Gulf remained shut, according to the U.S. Minerals Management Service.

The national gasoline inventory fell to its lowest level ever last week, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, under the one-two punch dealt Gulf Coast refineries by hurricanes Gustav and Ike.

"We had a big drop last week, so a lot of them (refineries) probably didn"t even come back from the week before," said Tom Bentz, analyst for BNP Paribas Commodity Futures Inc in New York.

U.S. officials said they were considering international assistance in preventing a national gasoline shortage.

Visit my Blog...