Well, the hurricanes might have taken out some of the consumption that otherwise still occured, but is this possibly indicative of greater demand elasticity for gas that earlier thought?
(http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10001099&sid=aW_4KHfUFrhw&refer=energy):

``Demand destruction'' may eliminate the need for emergency fuel releases after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita idled 19 percent of U.S. refinery capacity, the International Energy Agency said yesterday.

U.S. demand for gasoline in the four weeks ended Sept. 30 fell by 2.6 percent from a year ago, the U.S. Energy Department said two days ago. Imports of the fuel rose to a record of more than 1.4 million barrels a day in the week ended Sept. 30.