Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Gasoline rose as much as 6.7 percent, the biggest fluctuation of any commodity today, after Hurricane Katrina shut at least eight refineries, reducing U.S. fuel production by more than 10 percent.

October gasoline has gained 30 percent this week after the storm ripped through Louisiana and Mississippi, flooding refineries and shutting down pipelines. Fuel shortages prompted refiners and wholesalers to limit supplies to gas stations. President George W. Bush's pledge to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve didn't prevent crude oil from rising a third day in four.

``We have a significant shortage'' of gasoline, Dariusz Kowalczyk, senior investment strategist at CFC Seymour Ltd. said by phone from Hong Kong. ``There's the continued shutdown of a lot of refineries, inventories are significantly down from this time last year and we're only halfway through the hurricane season.''

Gasoline for October delivery rose as much as 15.02 cents to $2.4055 a gallon and in after-hours electronic trading at 5:01 p.m. Singapore time. The September contract touched a record $2.92 a gallon on the New York Mercantile Exchange before the contract expired yesterday at $2.6145 a gallon.

``I've never seen anything as devastating to the refining industry,'' said Dan Robinson, president of Placid Refining Co., a closely held company. ``There are a number of refineries that have suffered significant damage due to flooding and water, and those that were flooded, I presume, will have a considerable amount of work to do to get their plants running again.''

Record Fuel Costs

Record fuel costs are eating into consumer spending, curbing economic expansion. U.S. growth slowed to a 3.3 percent annual rate in the second quarter as people spent less because of rising energy costs, the Commerce Department said yesterday.

Hurricane Katrina killed hundreds and ``most likely thousands'' of people in what may be the nation's worst natural disaster, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said. The storm slammed the U.S. Gulf Coast this week with winds as high as 140 mph, flooding most of New Orleans and leveling parts of Harrison County, Mississippi. Alabama and Florida were also affected.

``This hurricane caused catastrophic devastation,'' the U.S. Coast Guard said in a statement on its Web site. Five oil rigs from the West Delta Platform are missing, one submersible rig is grounded, two mobile offshore drilling units are adrift, two semi- submersibles are listing, and the Mars platform owned by Royal Dutch Shell Plc is ``severely damaged,'' the statement said, with giving more details.

Crude oil for October delivery rose as much as 65 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $69.59 a barrel in after-hours trading at 5:12 p.m. Singapore time. The contract reached a record $70.85 on Aug. 30. Prices today are 58 percent higher than a year ago.

About 30 percent of U.S. crude oil production comes from offshore platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, while the region accounts for 24 percent of the country's natural gas output.

Production Cuts

The storm shut 1.37 million barrels of daily crude-oil output, about 91 percent of the region's output, according to a survey yesterday by the U.S. Minerals Management Service, which manages offshore resources. About 95 percent of the region's output was cut the day before.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe's second-largest oil company, said two oil production platforms and a pumping station in the central Gulf of Mexico area were damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

Workers at the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port were yesterday preparing to start unloading tankers again.

``We have people on the platform and working to restore communication right now,'' Mark Bugg, scheduling manager at New Orleans-based Loop LLC, the port operator, said yesterday. ``A tanker may dock this afternoon and possibly offload by this evening.''

The oil port stopped unloading tankers on Aug. 27 as Katrina approached. Port Fourchon in Louisiana, a staging area for workers who staff Gulf oil and natural-gas production platforms, opened yesterday morning.

Pipelines Restarting

Brian Turmail, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Transportation, which regulates pipelines, said the two major pipelines used to transport oil from the Gulf Coast to the Eastern United States would be operating by midnight local time.

Shell said its Capline crude oil pipeline resumed operations at a reduced rate after being shut because of power failures after the storm.

Placid Refining said it will start receiving a one million- barrel oil loan from the strategic reserve next week. The company's 49,000 barrels-a-day refinery in Port Allen, Louisiana is operating at 70 percent capacity after the hurricane shut pipelines that supply its crude oil.

The U.S. government has received at least three requests from refiners for oil from the reserve, U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said yesterday.

`Limited Effect'

``The effect of the release on gasoline prices is limited,'' said A.F. Alhajji, an energy economist and professor of business and economics at Ohio Northern University. ``Refineries are producing at full capacity and more crude will not lead to more gasoline.''

Eight refineries in Louisiana and Mississippi were closed yesterday, halting at least 1.79 million barrels a day of refining capacity. Another three are operating at less than capacity because power or pipeline failures have reduced supplies of crude oil.

``Each day that goes by, you're dipping more and more into the inventory, and the inventories are already very tight,'' Sal Ilacqua, an oil analyst at Monness Crespi Hardt & Co., said in New York.

U.S. gasoline stockpiles had their ninth straight decline last week, falling 508,000 barrels to 194.4 million, the U.S. Energy Department said yesterday. Crude-oil inventories declined 1.5 million barrels to 321.4 million, the department reported.

Regular Gasoline

Regular-grade gasoline, averaged nationwide, rose 1.5 cents to a record $2.619 a gallon Aug. 30, according to data released by the AAA, the nation's largest motoring organization. Pump prices are 41 percent higher than a year ago.

Retail prices have now surpassed levels not seen for 25 years. Gasoline prices surged then because of the Iranian revolution of 1979. Pump prices peaked at a nationwide average $1.38 a gallon in 1981, according to the Energy Department. That's about $2.95 in today's dollars.

William Shireman, executive vice president of Gas City Ltd., a 50-station chain based in Frankfort, Illinois, said major oil companies have stopped selling unbranded gasoline to independent retailers in Illinois and have cut back on contract allotments. The wholesale price he pays for gasoline had risen about 80 cents a gallon in two days, he said.

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To contact the reporter on this story: Will Kennedy in Singapore at wkennedy3@bloomberg.net; Gavin Evans in Wellington, New Zealand at gavinevans@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 1, 2005 05:16 EDT