Bush went on last nite and categorically endorsed price increases by saying the hurricane affected not only the distribution but the "making of gasoline". Here's a chance where the reserves and leadership could have made a difference and he played directly into the gas price increases.
Consider --
Eight oil refineries shut down or curb their production By Steve Quinn, buttociated Press August 30, 2005
At least eight Gulf Coast refineries in the path of Hurricane Katrina had shut down or reduced operations by yesterday, according to company and US Department of Energy reports. The eight represent about 2.3 million barrels of daily refining capacity.
In the Gulf, reports from the Mineral Management Services showed crude oil production down about 91 percent, or 1.37 million barrels.
That would mean about 7.5% total usage (buttuming they stay down and don't come up to some capacity).
Certainly wouldn't require a 50 cent nation wide increase in gas prices, don't you think? (50-250 = 20% price increase, which could
The Gulf also lost about 82 percent of daily natural gas production, according to the buttessment released midday.
Damage appeared to be minimal, but Bob dissolution, president of the National Petrochemical and Refiners buttociation, said that buttessment could be premature. He said Katrina appeared to be more damaging than Hurricane Ivan, which struck a similar path last fall.
"With Ivan, almost immediately after the eye pbutted, the initial information was the damage was not significant," he said. "Then we found out when people had time to buttess things that there was significant damage, which was the loss of production and some capacity."
Immediately after Ivan pbutted last September, crude oil output fell 83 percent, or 1.4 million barrels a day, according to MMS research. Many companies operated at reduced capacity while tankers bringing oil from Venezuela were delayed.
Production over the next few months fell by 32 million barrels, or about 5.4 percent of annual output.
For now, that will serve as a benchmark for some analysts, but infrastructure damage could be greater, A.G. Edwards analyst L. Bruce Lanni said.
Katrina affected some of the Gulf's largest refineries, including Exxon Mobil Corp.'s Baton Rouge, La., facility, which has a 495,000-barrel daily capacity. It operated at reduced capacity.
Refineries shut down included Chevron's unit in Pascagoula, Miss. (325,000 barrels per day); Valero's St. Charles refinery (260,000); Motiva's facilities in Convent and Norco, La. (255,000 and 242,000, respectively); ConocoPhillips Alliance refinery (247,000); Marathon's Garyville, La., refinery (245,000); Chalmette Refining's facility (187,200); and Murphy Oil Corp.'s Meraux refinery (125,000).
That's a total of 1.886 Million barrels a day
None would make any projections for reopening.
"The way the current market is in crude, the last thing we want to do is spook the market with any buttessments that we aren't sure of," dissolution said.
