UPDATE 8-Oil prices slip as Hurricane Laura's blow unlikely to have sustained impact

* Storm shuts 84% of Gulf production, 12% U.S. refining
capacity
* Refiners currently assessing damage to plants

(New throughout, updates prices, market activity and comments
to settlement)
By Laura Sanicola
NEW YORK, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Oil prices eased on Thursday as
the market expected a quick recovery for production platforms
shuttered ahead of a hurricane that churned through the Gulf of
Mexico and slammed Louisiana.
Brent crude LCOc1 futures for October, which expire on
Friday, fell 55 cents, or 1.2%, to settle at $45.09 a barrel.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 futures fell 35
cents or 0.8% to $43.04 a barrel.
The storm hit Louisiana early Thursday with 150
mile-per-hour (240 kph) winds, damaging buildings, knocking down
trees and cutting power to more than 400,000 people in Louisiana
and Texas. Its storm surge was less than predicted, sparing
inland plants from feared flooding. Oil producers on Tuesday had shut 1.56 million barrels per
day (bpd) of crude output, or 84% of the Gulf of Mexico's
production, evacuating 310 offshore facilities. BP said Thursday it was already preparing to return to its
company-operated facilities in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico to
inspect for any potential damage from the storm.
At the same time, refiners that convert nearly 2.33 million
bpd of crude oil into fuel, and account for about 12% of U.S.
processing, halted operations. "On the one hand refinery shutdowns reduced the demand for
crude oil, but at the same time Gulf of Mexico production was
shut in, nearly offsetting each other," said Andrew Lipow,
president of Lipow Oil Associates in Houston.
Exxon Mobil Corp XOM.N said it was contacting employees of
its 369,000 barrel-per-day oil refinery and chemical plant in
Beaumont, Texas, and preparing a preliminary tally of damages.
The large plant was one of six plants along the Gulf Coast's
refinery row that shut this week ahead of the storm.
"These guys have gone through these drills many times," said
Jennifer Rowland, senior analyst at Edward Jones in St. Louis.
"They know how to turn those units down and get them back up
within a number of days...it shouldn't be that big of an
impact,” she added.