Texas companies aren't shouting it from the rooftops, but it's a fact: the disaster of Hurricane Katrina is a very good deal for them. In New Orleans, the victims are counted. On Wall Street, financial analysts are already making clever calculations about who will benefit the most. The companies that install and repair pipelines, and rigs have a long way to go and their order books will grow thicker. Producers of crude, large and small, who have seen oil prices soar and shortages set in without suffering the slightest damage, are not complaining either. "They pocket the entire increase without breaking their heads with repair problems," said Dan Pickering, boss of Pickering Energy Partners in Houston.

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