All four refineries in the Corpus Christi, Texas refining hub on the Gulf of Mexico were shut on Sunday as a precaution before the hurricane, packing 140 miles per hour (225 kph) winds, slipped ashore between Corpus Christi and Brownsville.

A fire struck a gasoline-making unit at Coastal Corp's 100,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) Corpus Christi refinery as the plant was in the process of shutting down on Sunday.

But the ``small fire'' in the heater in the No 4 platformer was put out in a short time with no injuries, said company spokesman Greg Clock, who was unable to comment on the size of the unit.

By Monday morning, Bret's sustained winds had slowed to between 70 miles per hour (112 kph) and 85 mph (137 kph) and the hurricane was downgraded toa tropical storm.

And by midday, three of the four refineries said they were in the process of restarting.

Valero Energy Corp said its 210,000 bpd refinery was expected to reach full capacity by Wednesday morning.

Citgo, a subsidiary of PDV America, a subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA also began the restart sequence of its 150,000 to 160,000 bpd plant while Koch Industries officials were unavailable for comment on operations at its 280,000 bpd.

Meanwhile offshore, the US Minerals Management Service (MMS) said a marginal amount of US Gulf of Mexico natural gas and crude oil production was shut in over the weekend.

About 531 million cubic feet per day (cfd) of a total of 13.8 billion cfd gas output and 5,000 bpd of 1.3 million bpd of crude was shut down, MMS said.

Among the oil companies who operate in the Gulf, oil majors Exxon Corp, Texaco Inc and independent producer Phillips Petroleum Co said their US Gulf of Mexico oil and natural gas production wasonly minimally affected by Hurricane Bret.

Phillips closed down 700 bpd of crude oil and 8.3 million cubic feet of natural gas, a mere fraction of its gross production of around 15,000 bpd of crude and 30 million cubic feet of natural gas.

Phillips itself did not evacuate any personnel, but the operator of the pipeline that brings crude onshore evacuated its personnel leading to the shut in of on High Island 561 platform.

Texaco also shut in production in the High Island area, but ``it was only 13 million (cubic feet per day),'' a Texaco spokesman told Reuters.

An Exxon spokesman said four platforms in the Matagorda and Brazos fields near Galveston, Texas were shut in due to the storm, but added ``It was a nominal amount of production, and we're in the process of bringing the crews back.''

Exxon produces about 70,000 barrels per day of crude and 800 million cubic feet per day of natural gas in the US Gulf of Mexico.

On the benchmark crude oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX)pulled back from early highs on Monday morning after traders said they did not expect any serious refinery damage arising from Hurricane Bret.

In early trade, front month October crude traded as high as much as 22 cents per barrel higher at $22.10, but by 1111 EDT/1611 GMT, it was at $21.97, up nine cents.

``Hurricane Bret did not do permanent damage and so it became a neutral factor.. that's the reason we came back down,'' said a trader, Jim Ritterbusch, in Chicago-based Sweeney Oil.

Gasoline futures also slipped from the earlier hype, with September trading at 66.05 cents per gallon with a gain of 0.08 cents from a high of 66.75 cents.

The cash markets on the Gulf Coast were more easily agitated, gaining 0.50 cent per gallon on the refinery outages. But traders said the gains should be short-lived as two refiners said their plants were in comeback.

But NYMEX Hub Natgas futures moved to new highs again midday Monday after a soft open, as early selling on a weakening Texas storm gave way to buyingon concerns about other tropical disturbances in the Atlantic.

At 1250 EDT, September was up 10.2 cents at $3.04 per million British thermal units after hitting another contract high this afternoon of $3.05. October, which also set a new benchmark high today of $3.075, was 10.6 cents higher at $3.07. Most others also set new highs and were still flat to up 9.5 cents.

``Bret didn't have much impact on production, but people are watching another tropical wave northwest of Puerto Rico that seems to be getting better organised. I think that's what brought the market back. There's a point when you have to quit thinking and run with the tape,'' said one Midwest trader, adding the market seemed a little inflated but sellers were likely to stay sidelined until the storm activity quieted.