Commodity Online
NEW YORK : Oil prices were little changed Friday as energy producers are better prepared to face the challenge of approaching hurricane Gustav.

Crude oil for October delivery fell 13 cents to settle at $115.46 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures are up 57% from a year ago.

Brent crude oil for October settlement fell 12 cents to settle at $114.05 a barrel on London's ICE Futures Europe exchange.

Prices climbed as much as $3.17 a barrel as Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc said they will pull workers from Gulf platforms and shut production in a region that pumps 26% of US oil and 14% of the nation's gas. Gustav was declared a hurricane after the oil market settled.

Katrina, which reached Category 5 status, the strongest type of hurricane, closed 95% of offshore output in the Gulf of Mexico. Almost 19% of US refining capacity were idled because of damage and blackouts caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.

US refineries operated at 87.3% of capacity last week, according to the Energy Department. Refineries operated at 97.1% of capacity in the week ended August 26, 2005, the last week before Katrina made landfall in Louisiana.

Oil retreated from the day's highs after the dollar gained against the euro, limiting the appeal of commodities as an inflation hedge.