WASHINGTON - According to the latest situation report from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE), approximately 340,000 customers remain without electric power in Louisiana and Mississippi due to Hurricane Katrina. It appears that most of the remaining customers without power cannot receive it due to flooding, damaged substations, or damage to the customer's building.

Meanwhile, according to the U.S. Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service (MMS), 56 percent of oil production and 34 percent of natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico remain shut down.

The DOE's Energy Information Administration (EIA) daily report on Katrina notes that four refineries remain shut down, and expectations are that these refineries, which represent about 5 percent of total U.S. refining capacity, could be shut down for an extended period.