Over 40% of US Gulf of Mexico oil output shut-in by Francine

(Reuters) - About 42% of crude oil production and 53% of natural gas output in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico were shut-in on Thursday in the wake of Hurricane Francine, the U.S. offshore energy regulator said.

Francine tore through the U.S. Gulf of Mexico's prime oil and gas producing areas and slammed into the Louisiana coast as a Category 2 hurricane on Wednesday night. The storm toppled trees, flooded coastal areas and cut power to homes and businesses in four southern states.

Energy producers had shut-in 730,000 barrels per day of oil production and nearly 992 million cubic feet of natural gas from Gulf waters, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said.

The losses helped U.S. oil futures gain 2.5% to $69.01 per barrel on Thursday and added nearly 4% to natural gas futures, which rose to $2.357 per million British thermal units, both in afternoon trading.

In all, the storm likely disrupted about 1.5 million barrels of total U.S. oil production, UBS analysts estimated, and would cut September's output by about 50,000 barrels per day.

(Reporting by Anmol Choubey in Bengaluru; editing by Gary McWilliams and Sandra Maler)