No Quick Fix for Gulf Oil Output

Repairing all the damaged rigs, platforms and pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita will take up to a year and crude oil output will not return to normal “for many months,” U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton said Thursday.

In written testimony for a Senate Energy committee hearing, Norton said about 45 percent of oil and gas pipelines in the Gulf were operating, while 30 percent need repair. Another 25 percent were undamaged but could not be used due to “downstream problems.”
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