"John Hines" wrote in message
...
"Savvy 1" nospam@nospam wrote:

"Oscar_Lives" wrote in message
news:IhmQe.313711$xm3.306072@attbi_s21...
I just heard the mayor of New Orleans talking on CNN. He said that the
hurricane is likely to shut down 1/3 of the gasoline and natural gas
imports
to the United States this week, and that the shutdown would last for
months
to come. This sounds like some serious ****.


You don't really believe anything you hear on the Communist News Network,
do
you?

Sigh, the young ones don't know their history. CNN is Chicken Noodle
News.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,167283,00.html
Storm Fears Push Oil Past $70
Sunday, August 28, 2005



NEW YORK - With crude oil prices already near record levels, Hurricane
Katrina (search) targeted the heart of America's oil and refinery operations
Sunday, shutting down an estimated 1 million barrels of refining capacity
and sharply curbing offshore production in the region.

It is an area crucial to the nation's energy infrastructure - offshore oil
and gas production, import terminals, pipeline networks and numerous
refining operations throughout southern Louisiana and Mississippi.

The impact was immediate Sunday night when electronic trading resumed on the
New York Mercantile Exchange (search), as crude oil futures spiked $4.50 per
barrel, putting the cost above $70 for the first time since oil began
trading there in 1983.

The Category 5 storm was still churning in the Gulf of Mexico but was on a
path to hit New Orleans early Monday.

Last September, Hurricane Ivan (search) also swept across the region causing
heavy damage and reducing the region's output for months.

Katrina's winds were fiercer.

Oil companies evacuated workers and shut down more than 600,000 barrels of
daily production in the Gulf. Refiners closed down more than 1 million
barrels of refining output by Sunday, but that amount could be higher
because not every producer reports data, said Peter Beutel, an oil analyst
with Cameron Hanover.

"This is the big one," he said. "This is unmitigated, bad news for
consumers."

Gasoline futures soared more than 20 cents per gallon, above $2.12 per
gallon, and natural gas was up $2.20 per 1,000 cubic feet in the opening
minutes of trade. The "out of control" buying is spurred by the prospect
that the region's numerous refineries could be idled for weeks by flooding,
power outages, or both, Beutel said.

The U.S. has ample crude oil supplies, even if major hurricane destruction
trims Gulf oil output and foreign imports, but refining capacity is
extraordinarily tight. As a result, prices for gasoline, heating oil, jet
fuel and other products have flirted with records and could go even higher
this week.

"If this thing knocks out significant quantities of refining capacity ...
we're going to be in deep, dark trouble," said Ed Silliere, vice president
of risk management at Energy Merchant LLC in New York.

The market has been on edge for months, with traders and speculators buying
on the slightest fear. With Katrina, all those fears could be realized,
Beutel said.

"Basically I could spill a can of oil at my local gas station and you'd see
the price of crude go up by $1 per barrel," he said.

Crude settled at $66.13 a barrel Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange,
down $1.36 after hitting $68 last week.

On Friday, Katrina had been expected to be inconsequential to the energy
industry, with many traders selling. That all changed Saturday, when the
system gained power and charged west, directly toward areas of offshore oil
production.

ChevronTexaco Corp. completed evacuations of all workers in the eastern and
central Gulf of Mexico and nonessential workers in the western Gulf late
Saturday, company spokesman Matt Carmichael said.

Chevron has about 2,100 employees and contractors working in the Gulf,
Carmichael said. Chevron will continue to produce 90 percent of its normal
production by remote as long as weather cooperates, he said.

The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, which processes loads from tankers too
large for mainland ports, evacuated all workers and stopped unloading ships
on Saturday morning said Mark Bugg, the terminal's manager of scheduling.
The LOOP, 20 miles offshore, is the nation's largest oil import terminal and
handles 11 percent of U.S. oil imports.

Royal Dutch-Shell Group evacuated more than 1,000 offshore workers by
Saturday. Only those in the far west remained, the company said on its Web
site. BP PLC and ExxonMobil Corp. also brought workers ashore Saturday.

Shell estimated 420,000 barrels of oil and 1.35 million cubic feet of gas
per day will be shut in at its central and eastern Gulf facilities. Exxon
Mobil said it has ceased daily production of 3,000 barrels of oil and 50
million cubic feet of gas.

Valero Energy Corp. evacuated all but a few workers at its
260,000-barrel-a-day St. Charles refinery on Saturday. Murphy Oil Corp. also
shut down its 120,000-barrel-a-day Meraux, La., refinery, and Exxon Mobil
Corp. planned to shut down its 183,000-barrel-a-day refinery in Chalmette,
La.

Motiva Enterprises, a joint venture of Royal Dutch Shell PLC and state-owned
Saudi Arabian Oil Co., began implementing hurricane contingency plans at its
225,000-barrel-a-day Norco refinery on Saturday. Motiva also was exploring
contingencies for its 235,000-barrel-a-day Convent refinery, about 45 miles
west of New Orleans, Dow Jones Newswires reported.