[deport]

Oil rig damage

Oil companies said Monday that it was too soon to tell how badly their Gulf of Mexico rigs were damaged by Hurricane Katrina, but they vowed to assess the situation Tuesday and return to normal operations as soon as possible.

"It's important for us to get back to business as much as usual," said Tony Lentini, vice president of public and international affairs for Apache. "It's important to the country."

Apache shut down 336 of its 386 Gulf rigs because of the storm.

[end snip]

[Dog Gone]

It might be possible to make some aerial inspections of the oil facilities south of the mouth of the Mississippi late today, although no crew can make it out there until tomorrow.

BP's Thunder Horse facility nearly capsized after it was evacuated for Hurricane Dennis. It took a much more direct hit from Katrina. We'll just see.