WASHINGTON, Sept 24: The US oil industry, still reeling from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, appears to have escaped the worst of the damage that was feared from the furious winds and rain of Hurricane Rita.

Oil companies said it would be some days before they can evaluate Rita’s full impact, but expressed cautious hope that refineries on the Texas and Louisiana coast would emerge relatively unscathed.

“It’s already safe to say that the damage from Rita is far, far less extensive than it was for Katrina,” said Robert Hartwig, chief economist at the Insurance Information Institute.

Consultancy AIR Worldwide said insurance losses from Rita in parts of Texas and Louisiana would range from 2.5 to five billion dollars, far less than the 17-25 billion dollar bill it estimates for Katrina.

“In addition to being a smaller and less intense storm, Rita’s strongest winds impacted an area with far fewer insured properties than Katrina,” AIR Worldwide vice president Jayanta Guin said.

“Fortunately, the heavy commercial and industrial areas of Port Arthur and Beaumont (both in Texas) — with their numerous refineries — were to the left of the storm’s track, where wind speeds are lower, so we do not expect to see significant structural damage to the refineries.”

Nevertheless, Rita has revived fears of higher petrol (gasoline) and heating oil prices heading into the US winter in an industry still struggling to overcome the fearsome impact of Katrina.

Four refineries on the Gulf of Mexico coast remain offline after Katrina slammed into the region more than three weeks ago. Rita forced 16 refineries to shut down as a precaution, government figures showed Friday.

Production of crude and natural gas in the Gulf itself was only just picking up after Katrina. When operating at full tilt, the region provides a third of US crude oil.

But on Saturday, after 745 rigs and platforms were evacuated in the days before Rita roared ashore, 100 per cent of crude production and 75 per cent of natural gas output was shut down in the Gulf.—AFP