HOUSTON (Reuters) - Sixty percent of crude oil production and more than half of natural gas output were shut in U.S.-regulated areas of the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday as Tropical Storm Lee hammered the Louisiana Coast, the U.S. government said.

The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said 844,190 barrels per day (bpd), or 60.3 percent, of Gulf oil production was shut after companies pulled workers from offshore platforms on Friday. Workers began returning to some platforms on Saturday, but no production had been restored.

Also, 2,896 million cubic feet per day of natural gas output, or 54.6 percent, was shut in as of Saturday.

(Reporting by Erwin Seba: Editing by Vicki Allen)