Oil held strong near $69 a barrel on Thursday as the U.S. scrambled to replace fuel supplies lost when Hurricane Katrina slammed into Gulf of Mexico rigs and refineries.
Light sweet crude for October delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange was off 9 cents at $68.85 a barrel, below the record $70.85 hit on Tuesday. London Brent crude was up 10 cents at $67.12 a barrel. Gasoline futures on the NYMEX continued their rise to a high of $2.465 a gallon then eased to $2.355, up 9.97 cents on the day.
