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AnonymousOil, Gasoline Rise, as Hurricane Ike Heads for Texas Refineries
By Mark Shenk
Sept. 12, 2008 (Bloomberg) — Crude oil and gasoline rose as
Hurricane Ike headed toward the Texas coast, home to 23 percent
of U.S. refining capacity, shutting almost all Gulf of Mexico oil
production as it passes.
About 18 percent of U.S. oil processing capacity has been
shut before Ike makes landfall today. More than a quarter of U.S.
crude production is based in the Gulf Coast region. Evacuations
have halted 97 percent of Gulf oil output, the Minerals
Management Service said yesterday.
“The big concern is about the products because the
refineries aren’t running,” said Tom Bentz, senior energy
analyst at BNP Paribas in New York. “It remains to be seen how
much damage will occur, but nobody wants to take chances.”
Crude oil for October delivery rose $1.08, or 1.1 percent,
to $101.95 a barrel at 9:54 a.m. on the New York Mercantile
Exchange. Futures touched $100.10 yesterday, the lowest since
April 2. Prices are up 28 percent from a year ago.
“Without Ike crude prices would be below $100,” Bentz
said.
Ike’s eye was 230 miles (370 kilometers) southeast of
Galveston, Texas, and moving west-northwest at 13 miles per hour,
the National Hurricane Center said in an advisory at 7 a.m.
Houston time today. The hurricane, which tripled in size in the
Gulf of Mexico, was a Category 2 hurricane with sustained winds
of 105 miles per hour.
Gasoline for October delivery rose 10.12 cents, or 3.7
percent, to $2.85 a gallon in New York. Heating oil climbed 3.75
cents, or 1.3 percent, to $2.953 a gallon.
“Refinery shutdowns are tightening up supplies for refined
products,” said John Hummel, president of AIS Group, who manages
a $525 million portfolio of futures, stocks and bonds in Wilton,
Connecticut. “Storms are relatively transitory events. In the
longer term prices will move on the underlying market
fundamentals.”Refineries Shut
Exxon Mobil Corp., the world’s largest oil company, began
shutting its plant in Baytown, Texas, the largest in the U.S.,
with capacity of 590,500 barrels of oil a day. The Irving, Texas-
based company started shutting its 363,100 barrel-a-day Beaumont
plant yesterday.
Royal Dutch Shell Plc started shutting its 285,000 barrel-a-
day Port Arthur, Texas, refinery because “of shifts in Hurricane
Ike’s track,” the company said on its Web site.
BP Plc is closing its 475,000 barrel-a-day refinery in Texas
City. ConocoPhillips, the second-largest U.S. refiner, said its
260,000 barrel-a-day refinery in Sweeny, Texas, is closing.
LyondellBasell Industries, a unit of Access Industries Holdings
LLC, is shutting its 299,300 barrel-a-day Houston refinery.
Valero Energy Corp., the largest U.S. refiner, said it shut
three Texas oil refineries with a combined capacity of 700,000
barrels a day because of the danger posed by Hurricane Ike.Hurricane Gustav
Most offshore production platforms have been shut since
Hurricane Gustav entered the Gulf last week.
“The closures from Gustav and the looming closures from Ike
are the focus of the market,” said Rick Mueller, director of oil
markets at Energy Security Analysis Inc. in Wakefield,
Massachusetts. “We’ve seen big draws in gasoline stocks, and
even though the driving season is over there are worries that
supply will fall to critical levels.”
U.S. gasoline inventories dropped 13 percent to 187.9
million barrels in the past seven weeks, according to the Energy
Department. The peak gasoline-consumption period in the U.S.
lasts from the Memorial Day weekend in late May to Labor Day in
early September.Weekend Trading
CME Group Inc., the world’s biggest futures exchange, is
extending New York Mercantile Exchange electronic trading hours
this weekend because of Ike.
The decision applies to energy trades on its ClearPort and
Globex trading platforms, CME said in a release yesterday.
Trading will begin at 10 a.m. New York time on Sept. 14 with the
session closing on Sept. 15. Trading normally opens at 7 p.m.
Brent crude oil for October settlement rose $1.33, or 1.4
percent, to $98.97 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures Europe.
Prices touched $96.99 yesterday, the lowest since March 4.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez yesterday ordered the
American ambassador to Caracas to leave and threatened to halt
oil exports to the U.S. in a show of solidarity with his Bolivian
counterpart Evo Morales. Chavez and Morales, who expelled the top
U.S. envoy from his country two days ago, have accused the U.S.
of backing opposition movements in their countries.
The U.S. imported an average 1 million barrels of crude oil
a day from Venezuela during the first half of the year, making it
the fifth biggest supplier to the U.S., the Energy Department
said. -
Oil Refineries in Texas Shut Down for Hurricane Ike (Table)
By Nidaa Bakhsh and Aaron Clark
Sept. 12, 2008 (Bloomberg) — Texas refineries are shutting down
in preparation for Hurricane Ike, cutting fuel supply a week
after Hurricane Gustav battered Louisiana and forced several
plants to close.
Forecasts that Ike will make landfall in Galveston late
today or early tomorrow have caused at least 13 of the 16
refineries in the region to start closing units, cutting about 19
percent of U.S. refining capacity. The 16 plants have a
processing capacity of 4.26 million barrels a day, or about 22
percent of the U.S. total, according to government data.
The following table shows the owner, name, location,
processing capacity in barrels a day and latest information
provided by refinery operators.*T
Petrobras/Pasadena Refining Shut.
Pasadena
106,500Total SA In the process of shutting.
Port Arthur
240,000Valero Energy Corp. In the process of shutting.
Port Arthur
294,000Valero Energy Corp. In the process of shutting.
Texas City
210,000Valero Energy Corp. In the process of shutting.
Houston
85,000ConocoPhillips Started process of shutting
Sweeny Sept. 10. Full shutdown was
260,000 expected late yesterday.BP Plc In the process of shutting.
Texas City
475,000Exxon Mobil Corp. Started shutdown process
Baytown yesterday.
590,500Exxon Mobil Corp. Started shutdown process
Beaumont yesterday.
363,100Houston Refining LP Started process of shutting
Houston Sept. 10.
299,300Marathon Petroleum Corp. Started process of shutting
Texas City yesterday.
81,500Motiva/Shell Started shutdown process
Port Arthur yesterday.
300,000Shell/Deer Park Refining Started shutdown process
Deer Park yesterday.
340,000Citgo Petroleum Corp. Status unknown.
Corpus Christi
165,000Flint Hills Resources LP Refinery is operating.
Corpus Christi
305,000Valero Energy Corp. Operating at planned rates.
Corpus Christi
146,000 -
Update on Ike – between Gustav & Ike there is no way 2008 is going to exceed 2004 petcoke production levels making it 5th year in row that actual production has been a shortfall against increasing coking capacity.
Heard that there was Panamax full coke from Pt Arthur that was racing to get ahead storm & now dead in water in path of storm.
Regards
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