The light, sweet crude oil price for October delivery fell while gasoline futures jumped for a second consecutive day Aug. 29 as Tropical Storm Harvey’s flooding kept Texas refineries closed, raising fears of fuel shortages.
The New York Mercantile Exchange reformulated gasoline blendstock settled Aug. 29 at $1.78/gal, nearly a 2-year high. But light, sweet crude oil for October settled under $46.50/bbl.
S&P Global Platts on Aug. 29 noted that in addition to refineries shutting in due to flooding, some facilities took capacity offline due to issues sourcing adequate crude oil supply or placing product.
The amount of capacity currently offline in Texas was likely 2.33-3.36 million b/d, Platts said.
“However, some refineries in Corpus Christi are already initiating restart or assessing their ability to do so,” said Jenna Delaney, senior oil analyst with PIRA Energy, an analytics unit of S&P Global Platts.
“Overall, the net outage of refining capacity has increased and prices have responded with gasoline moving sharply to the upside while WTI has eased off as crude is effectively being bottled up into Cushing,” she said of West Texas Intermediate crude.
The ports in Corpus Christi and Houston both remain closed with additional ports being closed along the Texas coast through Lake Charles, La., as Harvey moved east.
“Until the ports reopen, refineries along the Texas coast will struggle to source adequate supply, which will perpetuate refinery run curtailment,” Delaney said.
Energy prices
The October light, sweet crude contract on NYMEX fell 13¢ on Aug. 29 to settle at $46.44/bbl while the November contract was up 4¢ to settle at $47/bbl.
The NYMEX natural gas price for September gained 3.6¢ to a rounded $2.96/MMbtu. The Henry Hub cash gas price was $2.88/MMbtu, down 4¢.
Heating oil for September rose 3¢ to a rounded $1.67/gal. Reformulated gasoline stock for oxygenate blending for September rose 7¢ to a rounded $1.78/gal.
The Brent crude contract for October on London’s ICE was up 11¢ to $52/bbl. The November contract gained 24¢ to $51.66/bbl. The September gas oil contract was $484.50/tonne on Aug. 29, up 25¢.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ basket of crudes on Aug. 29 was $49.51/bbl, down 35¢.
Contact Paula Dittrick at [email protected].
