Katrina and the waves

OK, it's a horrible joke, but someone had to do it, might as well be me.

Seriously, folks, there's one nasty bitch named Katrina headed for New Orleans. 175 mph winds with 215 mph gusts. This is a Hurricane Andrew-caliber storm -- only worse. Andrew had maximum sustained winds of 165 mph with a few gusts up to 177. Think of the damage that one caused, now think about a storm that's already sustained at a level Andrew was at its worst -- and it's still over water.

I'm not a prayin' woman, because I'm unsure to what or whom I should pray, but my thoughts are with you folks in the delta today.

On a national note, you'd better fill up your cars today:

U.S. energy companies said U.S. Gulf of Mexico crude oil output was cut by more than one-third on Saturday as Hurricane Katrina appeared poised to charge through central production areas toward New Orleans.

The Gulf of Mexico is home to roughly a quarter of U.S. domestic oil and gas output, with a capacity to produce about 1.5 million barrels per day of crude and 12.3 billion cubic feet per day of gas.

As of Saturday, 563,000 barrels daily crude output had been shut in due to the threatening storm.

Shell Oil Co., which was evacuating all 1,019 of its offshore workers in the central and eastern Gulf on Saturday, had the bulk of closed Gulf daily oil production, with 420,000 barrels turned off.

Shell also said 1.345 billion cubic feet per day, or Bfd, of natural gas had been shut by Saturday.

Total daily Gulf natural gas output shut on Saturday was 1.9 billion cubic feet.

Chalmette Refining LLC, which operates a New Orleans-area refinery, was shutting down production in preparation for the approach of the hurricane, which is predicted to produce winds near 131 mph (210 kph) when it charges ashore on Monday.

Chalmette is a joint venture between Exxon Mobil Corp. and Venezuelan state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA and operates a 190,000-bpd refinery 9 miles east of downtown New Orleans.

The shutdown was to be completed by Katrina's predicted landfall on Monday afternoon, said Chalmette spokeswoman Nora Scheller.

Other southeast Louisiana refineries were operating on Saturday but were reducing staff and preparing for possible shutdowns, the companies said.

If the oil infrastructure in the Gulf is destroyed or heavily damaged, you'll be paying three bucks a gallon before Labor Day. And even if it isn't, if the oil companies can find a way to use this to justify making a few more bucks, they will.

By the way, the kind of evacuation and emergency procedures that are necessary for a storm like this are often the province of the National Guard. Alas, however, most of the Louisiana National Guard is in Baghdad.

Stay safe, everyone.