UPDATE 1-US offshore oil, gas output improves slightly

The recovery of oil and natural gas production from the storm-battered Gulf of Mexico made headway on Friday, a report from the U.S. Minerals Management Service showed.

Some 702,556 barrels per day, or 46.84 percent of the Gulf’s 1.5 million bpd of crude production, remained shut, along with 3.617 billion cubic feet per day, or 36.17 percent of the region’s 10 bcfd of natural gas output, the MMS said.