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HOUSTON (AP) - If you think gasoline prices are high now, consider the eye-popping possibilities if another monster storm pummels the Gulf of Mexico this hurricane season, the way Katrina and Rita battered the petroleum-rich waters in 2005.
The petroleum industry has spent nearly two years trying to repair the damage from those historic Gulf hurricanes, rebuilding the complex web of platforms, pipelines and refineries in a region that produces roughly 25 percent of the nation's oil and 15 percent of its natural gas.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said this week it expects a busy hurricane season, forecasting 13 to 17 tropical storms, up to 10 of which could become hurricanes. That's higher than the 10 or so storms and hurricanes that form in an average year.
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