Reply #44: Crude Oil Falls From Record $68 as Storm May Miss Gulf Fields

[54anickel]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000086&sid=afgdjzGfJZQM&refer=latin_america

Aug. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil fell from a record $68 a barrel in New York on forecasts that Tropical Storm Katrina will probably miss oil and gas fields in the Gulf of Mexico.

Katrina's maximum sustained winds were near 50 miles (80 kilometers) per hour and are likely to intensify late today or early tomorrow to hurricane force, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said. The storm is expected to enter the Gulf after crossing Florida tomorrow and may make landfall in the state's panhandle in four days.

``Prices rose on concern that the storm would veer to the west, but that doesn't look likely,'' said Joe Allman, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets in Houston. ``It doesn't look like Katrina will hit the main oil and gas producing regions in the Gulf.''

Crude oil for October delivery fell 40 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $66.92 a barrel at 10:01 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures began trading in 1983. Prices are up 54 percent from a year ago.

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