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Crude oil down nearly two dollars after Hurricane Ike
New York (AFP) Sept 14, 2008 Crude oil prices dropped nearly two dollars Sunday in New York, dipping to 99.30 dollars, as traders were reassured over Hurricane Ike's relatively limited effect on oil production in the US Gulf Coast region. At 12:15 local time (1615 GMT), a barrel of "light sweet crude" for delivery in October fell one dollar and 88 cents on the New York Mercantile Exchange, which was opened on Sunday due to the storm. Ike hit the Texas coast before dawn on Saturday, triggering widespread flooding but no extensive damage to oil rigs and refineries in the Houston region, initial reports suggested. The price of gasoline meanwhile rose 13.46 cents to 2.63 a gallon, with prices at pump stations about a dollar higher. Oil refineries in the storm-hit Houston area could be down for eight to nine days due to Ike, which could create possible gas shortages in the region, according to US Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas. To help meet the demand, President George W. Bush announced Saturday that restrictions on imported gasoline had been suspended. The government suspended Environmental Protection Agency waivers "on certain reformulated gasoline, which will make it easier for imports from abroad to make it into our markets," Bush said. In the meantime, federal and state officials "will be monitoring the gasoline prices to make sure consumers are not being gouged, to make sure consumers are being treated fairly," Bush said.
earlier related report "Last night we suspended EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) waivers on certain reformulated gasoline, which will make it easier for imports from abroad to make it into our markets," Bush told reporters outside the White House as the powerful hurricane caused massive flooding in Texas and Louisiana. "In the meantime, the Department of Energy, the Federal Trade Commission and I know state authorities will be monitoring the gasoline prices to make sure consumers are not being gouged, to make sure consumers are being treated fairly," Bush said. Several officials have stressed that there are sufficient supplies of fuel, and lashed out at some price-gouging at gasoline pumps, with the governor of Florida decrying the practice as "unconscionable." "It is important for the people of Florida to know that our state currently has an adequate fuel supply," said Governor Charlie Crist, whose state regularly endures batterings by tropical storms and hurricanes, but avoided a strike by Ike. "Despite this fact, there are confirmed reports of gas stations charging more than five dollars a gallon, which can only be described as unconscionable," he said in a statement. "This type of behavior will not be tolerated," he said as he vowed to take action against price-gougers. Governor Mike Easley of the eastern state of North Carolina on Friday declared a "state of abnormal market disruption" and tasked his attorney general with enforcing a price-gouging statute, while urging "motorists to reasonably conserve gasoline until the situation is clearer." The Texas governor's website urges consumers with price-gouging complaints to contact the state's attorney general. ABC News' website reported gasoline stations in Florida charging as much as six dollars per gallon (3.79 liters) -- about 50 percent higher than recent rates according to the American Automobile Association -- and prices in South Carolina rising to 5.59 per gallon. Massive damage and flooding was reported throughout the Gulf Coast region as the center of Ike made landfall at Galveston Island at about 0710 GMT, 25 kilometers (15 miles) southeast of Houston. The storm forced oil companies to abandon 13 refineries representing a combined capacity of 3.7 million barrels of crude oil per day -- a fifth of US refinery capacity. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com
Analysis: Russia courts OPEC
Berlin (UPI) Sep 12, 2008 Russia has courted OPEC with a memorandum to forge closer ties, a move that, if realized, would increase the power of oil-producing nations and further weaken importers in Europe, observers say. |
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