Crunchers

As shut-in Gulf production barely budged last week, gas industry number crunchers were just beginning to realize the magnitude of the gas supply problem that consumers will face this winter given the damage by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Forecasters are predicting that possibly more than 3 Bcf/d of gas production could remain shut in through December, which would put the cumulative total at nearly 500 Bcf of gas by the end of the year.