Oil prices dipped today as the US government moved to avert a fuel shortage and some Gulf Coast oil operations resumed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Washington loaned out emergency crude supplies, eased environmental regulations on motor fuels and waived a shipping law to allow better flow of oil into the Gulf region, where most oil output and eight refineries were idled for a fifth day.
Some regional pipelines also started pumping supplies around the country and power was restored to a number of plants.
But the US government said it might take months to recover from the storm, which struck at the heart of an industry already running nearly flat-out to satisfy two years of exceptionally strong demand growth around the world.
Crude oil prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange retreated 57 cents, or 0.8 per cent, to stand at $68.90 a barrel today, having hit an all-time high of $70.85 on Tuesday, one day after Katrina hit the coast. London Brent crude was down 42 cents to $67.30 a barrel.
The US Department of Energy said some of the refineries shut by Katrina could take months to restart, with reports that floodwaters swamped at least three in Louisiana.
A dozen other refiners along the coast and in the Midwest have also been forced to slow operations due to pipeline and supply shutdowns, further straining already low inventories.
President George W. Bush urged Americans to conserve gasoline supplies and warned retailers about price gouging as New Orleans and the Gulf Coast struggled to recover from one of the nation's most savage storms, now estimated to have killed thousands.