Oil prices eased Friday as traders monitored the slow pace of recovery on the U.S. Gulf Coast after Hurricane Rita and its possible long-term impact on Northern Hemisphere winter fuel supplies, according to AP. Benchmark light, sweet crude for November delivery was up 8 cents to US$66.87 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange in Europe. The contract had closed at US$66.79 a barrel, up 44 cents in New York floor trading Thursday. Heating oil contracts, scheduled to expire later Friday, eased one and a half cents to US$2.1090 a gallon (3.8 liters), while gasoline tumbled nearly 6 cents to US$2.1950 a gallon. On London's International Petroleum Exchange, November Brent contracts were down 11 cents to US$63.73 a barrel. Prices rose overnight on news that Gulf of Mexico oil production had started _ but only slightly. The Minerals Management Service said that as of Thursday, 98.6 percent of output was still blocked, allowing a flow of 1.48 million barrels of oil per day. Suspended natural gas production was slightly lower at 79.79 percent, or 7.98 billion cubic feet per day, it said. Damage reports have been filtering in from oil companies hit by Rita, with many not providing any definite startup timeline. Restoration of electric power also has been slow. Friday, ExxonMobil said its 183,000-barrel-a-day Chalmette, Louisiana, refinery should restart in November.
