Production up at Katrina-damages platform

Crude oil prices dropped again on Friday after BP announced that it could return to full production at its Prudhoe Bay, Alaska oil field as early as October, sooner than it had earlier predicted.  Other news, including news from Royal Dutch Shell that its Mars platform in the Gulf of Mexico was producing 20 percent more oil than it had before Hurricane Katrina hit last year, also helped prices decline.  Other factors in the drop in prices inlcuded the absence of hurricanes so far this season from the Gulf of Mexico, and the end of the summer driving season in the US.

Brent crude for October delivery was 58 cents lower to $65.95 per barrel, 4.5 percent lower for the week and down more than 16 percent from record highs reached just a month ago.  Meanwhile, October contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange dropped 51 cents to $66.81 per barrel by late morning, a decline of over 3 percent this week.  Nymex gasoline futures were down nearly 6 percent during the week to $1.6300 per gallon, helped lower by higher inventories.