Sept. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Gasoline fell in New York after Hurricane Rita weakened on its path toward Texas and shifted eastwards away from the heart of the refining industry. Crude oil futures were little changed.

Rita's winds dropped to 145 mph from as high as 175 mph earlier, the National Hurricane Center said. The storm may make landfall between the northern coast of Texas and the west coast of Louisiana. Gasoline rose 4.2 percent yesterday as about 20 percent of U.S. refining capacity was shut in Texas.

``The track has been moving to the east, away from the really big refineries in the Houston area,'' said Kyle Cooper, an analyst with Citigroup Inc. in Houston. ``The storm is still serious.''

Gasoline for October delivery fell as much as 3.94 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $2.10 a gallon in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It traded at $2.103 at 9:41 a.m. Sydney time. Yesterday, the contract rose 8.63 cents to $2.1394, the highest close since Sept. 2.

Prices touched $2.92 a gallon on Aug. 31, the highest since trading began in 1984, and closed 59 percent higher than a year ago. Gasoline yesterday had the biggest move of any commodity.

At least 14 refineries with a combined capacity of more than 3.3 million barrels a day were closed or had processing cut in Corpus Christi, Port Arthur and in or near Houston, as Texas braced for Rita, one of the strongest storms on record.

About 5 percent of U.S. capacity was already closed because of Hurricane Katrina, which hit Louisiana and Mississippi Aug. 29 and sent U.S. gasoline pump prices above $3 a gallon for the first time.

Louisiana

The path of the hurricane has moved eastward, away from Houston and toward Port Arthur, which is near the Louisiana border.

``It looks as if there's not going to be so much damage to the bigger refining sites,'' said David Thurtell, a commodity strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney.

Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Valero Energy Corp. are among the companies that shut plants. Closures extended to Lake Charles, Louisiana, where Citgo Petroleum Corp. was shutting its refinery, the fourth-largest in the U.S., according to an Energy Department report yesterday.

Crude Oil

Crude oil for November delivery was little changed in electronic trading at $66.52 a barrel, up 2 cents, at 10:16 a.m. Sydney time. Yesterday, oil fell 30 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $66.50, having earlier reached $68.14. Oil reversed when the storm was downgraded to a Category 4 hurricane from Category 5.

Futures have fallen 6.1 percent since touching a record $70.85 a barrel on Aug. 30, the day after Katrina made landfall. Prices are 37 percent higher than a year ago.

Rita's center was located about 350 miles east-southeast of Galveston as of 7 p.m. local time, the hurricane center said. The storm is moving west-northwest at 10 mph and is expected to turn gradually towards the northwest during the next 24 hours, it said.

``On this track, the core of Rita will be approaching the southwest Louisiana and the upper Texas coast late Friday,'' the center said.

Exxon Mobil said it is closing its 557,000 barrels-a-day Baytown, Texas, refinery, the nation's largest, and another plant in Beaumont. Valero is shutting plants in Texas City and Houston. Shell, ConocoPhillips and BP Plc also closed or slowed operations yesterday.

Higher Prices

``If some refineries are damaged, prices will rise higher than they did as a result of Katrina,'' said Phil Flynn, vice president of risk management at Alaron Trading Corp. ``There would be record pump prices, which would eventually go down because demand will fall as the economy falters. There comes a point when people will reduce driving and I think we're close.''

Regular-grade gasoline, averaged nationwide, fell 0.9 cent to $2.755 a gallon yesterday, according to data released yesterday by the AAA, the nation's largest motoring organization. Prices have declined 9.9 percent since touching a record $3.057 on Sept. 2.

Heating oil for October delivery yesterday rose 0.71 cent, or 0.4 percent, to $2.0458 a gallon. Futures touched $2.21 on Sept. 1, the highest in 27 years of trading on the exchange. Heating oil was at $2.025 in after-hours trading.

Natural gas for October delivery yesterday rose 19.6 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $12.79 per million British thermal units, the highest close since trading began in 1990. Prices, which touched $13.42, an intraday record, have more than doubled in the past year. The contract traded at $12.869 at 9:46 a.m. Sydney time.

To contact the reporter on this story: Angela Macdonald-Smith in Sydney at amacdonaldsm@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 22, 2005 20:44 EDT