WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 (Xinhuanet) -- The US government has sold 11 million barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to ease shortage after Hurricane Katrina hit Gulf Coast, theEnergy Department announced Wednesday.

    The sale amount was about a third of what had been offered to the oil industry. The government had made available up to 30 million barrels to oil companies from the emergency stockpiles.

    The fact that oil companies did not seek to buy as much as whatthe government offered was a sign that normal production is coming back, officials said.

    According to the department, the 11-million-barrels oil was sold for a price ranging from 59 dollars a barrel for sour crude to a range of 62 dollars to 66 dollars a barrel for sweet crude.

    The department announced that the purchasers were: BP Oil Supply Co, 2.7 million barrels; Marathon-Ashland Petroleum LLC, 2.25 million barrels; Shell Trading (US) Co., 2 million barrels; Astra Oil Co., 1 million barrels; and Vitol SA Inc., 3 million barrels.

    The 11 million barrels of oil were straight sales. The sales were in addition to the loans of 12.6 million barrels the government had released to six Gulf Coast refineries soon after Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast on August 29.

    "This sale ensures that refineries have the petroleum they needto keep gasoline and diesel flowing to American consumers while production facilities in the Gulf region regain their capacity," Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said.

    As of Tuesday, 89 platforms and rigs remained evacuated in the Gulf, government figures showed. That means 56.45 percent of dailycrude production and 37.2 percent of natural gas output is still offline.

    "As we move forward, we will continue to monitor the overall supply of petroleum available and the needs of the nation as we determine next steps," Bodman said. Enditem