Oil prices bounced back above $102 a barrel Friday as Hurricane Ike swept through Gulf of Mexico, prompting companies along the Texas coast to shut down refining and drilling operations. Ike is forecast to land early Saturday as a Category 3 hurricane near Galveston, a barrier island about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of Houston. The Houston region is home to about one-fifth of US refining capacity, and the site of a major fuel and grain distribution channel. Light, sweet crude for October delivery rose $1.43 to $102.30 a barrel in morning trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.71 overnight to settle at $100.87 after dropping as low as $100.10 per barrel. The last time Nymex crude traded below the $100 mark was April 2. In London, October Brent crude rose 94 cents to $98.58 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange, after closing at a six-month low in the previous trading session. Gasoline prices also rose. October gasoline futures climbed 8.97 cents to $2.8385 a gallon on Nymex. Exxon Mobil Corp., Valero Energy Corp., ConocoPhillips and Marathon Oil Co. have begun halting operations as the Category 2 hurricane headed straight for the nation's biggest complex of refineries and petrochemical plants. US wholesale gasoline prices spiked 30 percent Thursday. As of Thursday, about 97 percent of crude production and 93 percent of natural gas production in the Gulf were shuttered, according to the Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service. Early Friday, the storm was centered about 370 miles (595 kilometers) southeast of Galveston, Texas, moving to the west-northwest at 12 mph (19 kph). Top sustained winds were 100 mph (160 kph). Ike is huge, taking up nearly 40 percent of the Gulf of Mexico. The National Hurricane Center said tropical storm-force winds of at least 39 mph (62 kph) extended across more than 510 miles (820 kilometers). Ike and last week's Hurricane Gustav have helped to stanch a sharp downturn in oil prices. Concerns over slowing economic growth on a global scale and a strengthening US dollar have led funds to liquidate their commodities holdings, pushing crude prices down about 30 percent from their record $147.27 set on July 11.
