HOUSTON (Reuters) - Energy companies waited anxiously on Monday as Hurricane Gustav lurched across the nation's largest concentration of oil platforms and refineries in the biggest threat to fuel supplies since 2005.Nearly all of the oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico and more than a quarter of U.S. refining capacity was shut or slowed down as a precaution by the time Gustav made landfall near New Orleans on Monday morning.
But energy experts were hopeful the storm would cause less damage to infrastructure than Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which three years ago destroyed more than 100 offshore oil platforms and closed several large refineries for months.
"The storm has been downgraded and it looks like the main portion of the refinery district is going to escape a significant hit," said Jim Ritterbusch of Ritterbusch and Associates in Galena, Illinois.
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