Hurricane Isaias Shuts In 72% of Gulf Oil as 466,000 bpd of Refining Faces Risk
Updated
Updated · CNN · Oct 9
Hurricane Isaias Shuts In 72% of Gulf Oil as 466,000 bpd of Refining Faces Risk
3 articles · Updated · CNN · Oct 9
Summary
72% of Gulf of Mexico oil production was shut in by midday Friday as Hurricane Isaias approached the US Gulf Coast, adding stress to an energy system already running with little spare capacity.
The bigger market threat is refining: Chevron’s Pascagoula plant and Vertex’s Mobile refinery, together processing 466,000 barrels a day, face flooding or power-loss risks that could trigger longer outages.
Analysts said even a brief refinery disruption could quickly lift gasoline, diesel and jet-fuel prices because commercial stockpiles are already thin; diesel inventories are at their lowest seasonal level since 1982.
The storm’s eastward shift has reduced danger for most Louisiana refineries, but Florida could still see slight fuel-delivery delays because tankers must wait for the storm to pass.