Slow Gulf Repairs Mean Visibility

This column was originally published on RealMoney on Nov. 4 at 2:03 p.m. EST. It's being republished as a bonus for TheStreet.com readers.

The Gulf of Mexico is coming back.

The Mineral Management Service -- the government arm that measures oil and gas production in the Gulf -- said Thursday that daily production received a big boost: Shut-in oil output declined to 790,610 barrels a day, or 52.7% of total Gulf output, down from 63.9% on Wednesday, and shut-in natural gas production decreased to 4.726 billion cubic feet a day, or 47.3% of daily output, a big improvement from 50.4% on Wednesday.

Still, the impact of hurricane season is significant. More than 77 million barrels of oil production have been lost as a result of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, equaling more than 14% of the annual Gulf production. Lost natural gas production totals more than 396 billion cubic feet, almost 11% of annual production. ...