Oil prices fell on Monday after Hurricane Wilma crashed ashore in Florida, bypassing U.S. production platforms in the storm-weary Gulf of Mexico, Reuters reported. Oil companies operating in the region evacuated more than a thousand workers as Wilma approached, but government data showed only limited impact to production. U.S. light crude settled down 31 cents to $60.32, bringing prices well-below the record $70.85 a barrel struck in late August. London Brent lost 24 cents to $58.24. "The market has been sold off after the hurricane headed for Florida instead of the Gulf Coast. So oil production is not affected," said Tony Nunan at Mitsubishi Corp. After devastating Mexico's Yucatan peninsula at the weekend and making landfall in southwest Florida, Wilma left the Gulf of Mexico's energy producers undamaged. The 'miss' was good news for the industry, struggling to recover from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. As of Monday, some 68 percent of the Gulf's U.S. oil production remained shut, along with 55 percent of its gas output, according to the Minerals Management Service. That is only slightly worse than before Wilma, showing the storm did little more than stall the oil industry's recovery from Katrina and Rita. The Gulf of Mexico is home to more than a quarter of U.S. domestic crude and gas production. Fears of further supply disruption were also calmed on Monday after Total's Gonfreville oil refinery, the biggest in France, restarted operations on Saturday following a month-long strike over wages.
