Oil prices fell on Monday as U.S. oil and gas facilities started returning to normal following the passage of Hurricane Dennis without major damage. U.S. crude ended 63 cents down to $59 a barrel, after sinking as low as $58.02. It extended losses of $1.10 on Friday and was down from last week's record $62.10. London Brent crude shed 71 cents to $57.49 a barrel, according to Reuters. "It was no Ivan," said Dave Higgins, a spokesman with Apache Corp. an oil and gas producer in the U.S. Gulf that was returning workers to its operations on Monday. Last September Hurricane Ivan shut in around 45 million barrels of oil output over the course of several months. Hurricane Dennis raced ashore on the Florida panhandle on Sunday, leaving production companies to start restoring the oil and gas output that had been shut as a precaution. The U.S. Minerals Management Service said that companies shut in more than 96 percent of daily Gulf of Mexico production as of early Monday, and more than 62 percent of natural gas output. The gulf produces about 25 percent of U.S. oil and gas. --More 2238 Local Time 1938 GMT
