Gulf oil production will lag for another year

WWLTV.com :

"The Gulf of Mexico's offshore petroleum industry is far from recovering from hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and at least one-sixth of the region's normal daily oil production will still be off line at the start of next storm season, a federal agency says.

Katrina and Rita destroyed 115 of the Gulf's 4,000 production platforms and damaged another 52, according to a report released Thursday by the Minerals Management Service, which manages federal offshore leases.

The storms' combined fury -- much stronger when they swept across the Gulf than when they hit shore -- also damaged 183 pipelines, including 64 classified as major. As of Thursday, only 22 had been returned to service, the MSS said."