08-29-2005, 11:21 PM
where fucked....
[/url]WASHINGTON (Reuters) - There is a new name for what ails U.S. drivers at the gasoline pump, and her name is Katrina.
If things weren't bad enough last week with the average U.S. retail gasoline price hitting a record $2.61 a gallon, Hurricane Katrina struck at the heart of the U.S. oilpatch on Monday.
Katrina's 135 mph (216 kph) winds walloped crude oil platforms and shut down about half the Gulf of Mexico's oil production.
The storm also shuttered eight Gulf refineries that normally churn out about 1.8 million barrels of gasoline each day -- about 9 percent of daily U.S. needs.
U.S. consumers' wallets will feel the pain over this weekend's Labor Day holiday, which usually marks the peak of the nation's driving season.
"We do expect there to be a significant impact on pump prices" from the hurricane, said Geoff Sundstrom, spokesman for AAA's national office in Florida. "This is just going to exacerbate the difficult situation we are already in."
Industry officials said it's too early to estimate how much the storm will bump up national retail gasoline prices.
But if wholesale prices are any indication, consumers are in for more pain in their wallets. Wholesale gasoline traded in the U.S. Gulf Coast leaped by 50 cents a gallon on Monday, and gasoline futures soared as much as 24 cents on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
DAMAGE ASSESSMENT WILL TAKE TIME
Even under the best-case scenario, where U.S. refiners and oil producers can quickly restart their facilities, the U.S. consumer will still suffer, said Seth Kleinman, an analyst for PFC Energy in Washington.
"You've still taken about 3 million barrels of product production out of a market that just can't afford that," Kleinman said. "It's bad news for people that drive SUVs."
The Gulf Coast is the nexus for a huge network of refined product pipelines that crisscross the nation, delivering crucial supplies to the Midwest. The Capline pipeline, which transports crude oil from Louisiana to Illinois area refineries, shut down on Sunday, according to operator Shell.
"It's clearly a major hit," said John Felmy, chief economist for the American Petroleum Institute.
Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer ([url=http://us.rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/politics/news/nm/ts_nm/weather_katrina_gasoline_dc/16242115/*http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news?fr=news-storylinks&p=%22Sen.%20Charles%20Schumer%22&c=&n=20&yn=c&c=news&cs=nw]news, bio, voting record) of New York urged the Bush administration to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help ease prices. The emergency stockpile, which holds 700 million barrels of crude, last year loaned 5.4 million barrels to oil refiners after Hurricane Ivan.
The Bush administration said it was willing to make similar loans, but only after Hurricane Katrina's damage to the oil industry is clear.
Industry and federal government officials are scrambling to assess the damage, a task that could take some time.
When Hurricane Ivan hit the Gulf Coast last year, it took weeks to determine that powerful waves wrecked crucial pipelines buried beneath the Gulf's sea floor. The storm wiped out a total 45 million barrels of U.S. output over six months.
Ascendant U.S. demand for gasoline has already stretched U.S. refiners to the limit. They also must comply with new federal rules to make diesel that is nearly sulfur-free.
"Next year is looking so complicated from a refining perspective, and now this," said PFC's Kleinman.
Gasoline prices are sure to be a hot topic when Congress returns from its recess next week. The Senate Energy Committee will hold a September 8 hearing on soaring prices, and Democrats have urged the Bush administration to investigate.
U.S. consumers use about 9 million barrels of gasoline a day, which translates to about 380 million gallons.
Each penny increase in gasoline prices means that U.S. consumers pay about $1.39 billion extra at the pump each year, according to Senate Energy Committee data.
[/url]WASHINGTON (Reuters) - There is a new name for what ails U.S. drivers at the gasoline pump, and her name is Katrina.
If things weren't bad enough last week with the average U.S. retail gasoline price hitting a record $2.61 a gallon, Hurricane Katrina struck at the heart of the U.S. oilpatch on Monday.
Katrina's 135 mph (216 kph) winds walloped crude oil platforms and shut down about half the Gulf of Mexico's oil production.
The storm also shuttered eight Gulf refineries that normally churn out about 1.8 million barrels of gasoline each day -- about 9 percent of daily U.S. needs.
U.S. consumers' wallets will feel the pain over this weekend's Labor Day holiday, which usually marks the peak of the nation's driving season.
"We do expect there to be a significant impact on pump prices" from the hurricane, said Geoff Sundstrom, spokesman for AAA's national office in Florida. "This is just going to exacerbate the difficult situation we are already in."
Industry officials said it's too early to estimate how much the storm will bump up national retail gasoline prices.
But if wholesale prices are any indication, consumers are in for more pain in their wallets. Wholesale gasoline traded in the U.S. Gulf Coast leaped by 50 cents a gallon on Monday, and gasoline futures soared as much as 24 cents on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
DAMAGE ASSESSMENT WILL TAKE TIME
Even under the best-case scenario, where U.S. refiners and oil producers can quickly restart their facilities, the U.S. consumer will still suffer, said Seth Kleinman, an analyst for PFC Energy in Washington.
"You've still taken about 3 million barrels of product production out of a market that just can't afford that," Kleinman said. "It's bad news for people that drive SUVs."
The Gulf Coast is the nexus for a huge network of refined product pipelines that crisscross the nation, delivering crucial supplies to the Midwest. The Capline pipeline, which transports crude oil from Louisiana to Illinois area refineries, shut down on Sunday, according to operator Shell.
"It's clearly a major hit," said John Felmy, chief economist for the American Petroleum Institute.
Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer ([url=http://us.rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/politics/news/nm/ts_nm/weather_katrina_gasoline_dc/16242115/*http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news?fr=news-storylinks&p=%22Sen.%20Charles%20Schumer%22&c=&n=20&yn=c&c=news&cs=nw]news, bio, voting record) of New York urged the Bush administration to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help ease prices. The emergency stockpile, which holds 700 million barrels of crude, last year loaned 5.4 million barrels to oil refiners after Hurricane Ivan.
The Bush administration said it was willing to make similar loans, but only after Hurricane Katrina's damage to the oil industry is clear.
Industry and federal government officials are scrambling to assess the damage, a task that could take some time.
When Hurricane Ivan hit the Gulf Coast last year, it took weeks to determine that powerful waves wrecked crucial pipelines buried beneath the Gulf's sea floor. The storm wiped out a total 45 million barrels of U.S. output over six months.
Ascendant U.S. demand for gasoline has already stretched U.S. refiners to the limit. They also must comply with new federal rules to make diesel that is nearly sulfur-free.
"Next year is looking so complicated from a refining perspective, and now this," said PFC's Kleinman.
Gasoline prices are sure to be a hot topic when Congress returns from its recess next week. The Senate Energy Committee will hold a September 8 hearing on soaring prices, and Democrats have urged the Bush administration to investigate.
U.S. consumers use about 9 million barrels of gasoline a day, which translates to about 380 million gallons.
Each penny increase in gasoline prices means that U.S. consumers pay about $1.39 billion extra at the pump each year, according to Senate Energy Committee data.
![[Image: recession.gif]](http://www.amanita.at/images/sonstiges/recession.gif)
