"From the operators' reports, it is estimated that approximately 96.26 percent of the oil production in the Gulf has been shut-in," the Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service (MMS) said in a statement on its website.

It also estimated that more than 82 percent of natural gas production in the Gulf was halted in the face of the storm, which is on target to plow into coastal Louisiana on Monday, potentially as a Category 4 storm with sustained winds of 150 miles (242 kilometers) per hour and storm surges up to 16 feet (4.8 meters) above normal.

Gustav already has killed at least 81 people as it churned through the Caribbean and raked across western Cuba before heading into the warm waters of the Gulf.

The Gulf is one of the largest energy production hubs in the Americas, producing some 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil -- about one quarter of total US production of some five million bpd -- and 7.4 billion cubic feet of gas per day, according to the MMS.

More than half of the country's gasoline production comes from the Gulf of Mexico region as well.

MMS said personnel have been evacuated from 518 of the total 717 manned oil and gas production platforms in the Gulf. Personnel from 86 of the total 121 rigs operating in the waters have been evacuated as well.

US giant ExxonMobil said Sunday it had completed storm preparations for its Gulf Coast oil and gas operations.

"We have completed evacuation of all Gulf of Mexico offshore platform personnel. We are also releasing personnel from onshore facilities anticipated to be in or near the path of the storm," ExxonMobil said in a statement.

The company also said "we anticipate that we will continue to meet customer supply commitments," adding that one of its refineries, in Chalmette, Louisiana, was being shut down but that Exxon's other refineries and chemical plants on the Gulf Coast remained in operation as of Sunday.

Shell, in addition to its offshore facilities, was also shuttering a number of its coastal refineries and chemical plants while putting others on standby.

British oil group BP and US rival ConocoPhillips also began evacuating their offshore workers from Thursday as Gustav loomed.

"In the South Louisiana asset area, all drilling and workover rigs and all other well and construction activities have been shut down, equipment moved to inland docks, and the crews released," ConocoPhillips said in a statement.

Oil industry analyst Andy Lipow based in Houston, Texas, said the threat of Gustav had raised grim memories of the 2005 hurricanes Katrina and Rita that damaged or destroyed about 165 oil platforms of the some 4,000 located in the Gulf.

"We'll have a supply disruption, but how quickly can the industry recover is going to be the key," Lipow said Friday.

Lipow said the oil industry presently was better girded for storms, both with offshore and onshore facilities.

On Friday New York crude prices moved higher to above 117 dollars before the three-day holiday weekend in the United States.

On Friday US officials said they were prepared to tap the government's strategic oil reserve, which holds an emergency supply of 707 million barrels of crude oil, if Gustav damages oil installations in the Gulf of Mexico.

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