Rita's aftermath buoys oil prices

Oil producers warn that there is no extra supply in the system

Crude oil prices stayed above $66 on Thursday amid further concerns over Hurricane Rita's impact on US supplies.

Adding to the pressure on oil markets, strike action in France closed a refinery and disrupted supplies.

New York light crude rose 31 cents to $66.66 a barrel in the US. In London, Brent crude added 13 cents to $64.06.

Analysts said the prices of crude oil and products such as petrol and heating oil were set to be volatile and high in the run-up to winter.

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"Oil futures are looking forward to a much colder-than-expected winter as forecast by many meteorologists," said Gordon Kwan, an analyst at CLSA.

"The fact that we have had so many refineries shut down means we are going into this winter on perhaps not enough heating oil."

Even though Hurricane Rita did less damage than was feared, it did knock out large swathes of production.

According to government figures, all oil production in the Gulf of Mexico remains shut, while the majority of natural gas production was still out.

About 15% of refining capacity nationwide may be offline until the middle of next month, they estimate.

Companies including Chevron have said they are getting refining operations back up to speed.

In France, the situation is looking more complicated, as a strike that has closed Total's refinery in Normandy threatens to spread to the firm's other plants.

France is a significant supplier of gasoline to the US.