hours earlier. (WP, WSJ) September 14: In the biggest disruption of the region's output in at least two years, Hurricane Ivan forces Royal Dutch Shell, ChevronTexaco, ExxonMobil, and Total to shut some hundreds of thousands of barrels per day of Gulf of Mexico oil production as the companies evacuate more than 3,000 workers from the offshore oil platforms. Oil tankers from Venezuela also face a three-day delay on deliveries to the United States because of the hurricane. The U.S. Minerals Management Service reports that Ivan has reduced Gulf Coast oil production by 61%. (Bloomberg, DJ, Reuters) September 20: President Bush lifts a variety of U.S. sanctions on Libya, paving the way for American oil companies to try to secure contracts or revive previous contracts for tapping Libya's oil reserves, estimated at . (NYT) September 24: In the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan, U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham agrees to release of oil in the form of a loan from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Refineries are reporting supply shortages due to cuts in production and delayed imports. Prices of NYMEX WTI prompt month crude oil rise $0.42 to $48.88 per barrel despite the release. A bout of crude oil production is shut-in, along with per day of natural gas production. By February 2005, lasting damage from the Hurricane continues to cause shut-ins of over of crude oil production (over 7% of the yearly production in the Gulf of Mexico) and over of natural gas (almost 4% of the Gulf's yearly production). (NYT, MMS) October 22: The NYMEX WTI prompt month crude oil contract price closes at an all-time high of $55.17 per barrel after the Energy Information Administration reports a fifth straight weekly decrease in U.S. heating oil stocks. Lasting effects from Hurricane Ivan have also forced the shut-in of natural gas and crude oil production from the Gulf Coast. (NYT, CNN) October 28: After its approval by the Russian cabinet and the lower half of the Russian legislature earlier in October, the upper house of the legislature ratifies the Kyoto Protocol global climate treaty and returns it to the executive branch for its approval. Russian ratification is necessary for the Protocol to take effect because participating countries must have been responsible for 55% of global emission in 1990, and Russia is the only remaining country that can trigger the 55% threshold. One of the Protocol's main tasks is to implement