The US light, sweet crude oil contract for October dropped more than $1.60 on the New York market Sept. 8 while market participants monitored the path of Hurricane Irma, which made landfall in Florida over the weekend about 2 weeks after Hurricane Harvey hit Texas.
The US government on Sept. 8 waived the Jones Act requirement for shipping fuel to Florida, White House Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert said. This allowed foreign-flag vessels to deliver fuel to help avert fuel shortages.
The US Department of Energy issued an infrastructure report saying numerous ports across the Caribbean, Florida, North Carolina, and South Caroline were either closed or open with restrictions as of Sept. 9.
Traders say oil prices likely will remain volatile given an active Atlantic Basin tropical weather season. Hurricane Katia made landfall in eastern Mexico on Sept. 8.
Separately, Hurricane Jose moved north of Puerto Rico. Weather forecast said Sept. 11 that Jose was unlikely to make a US landfall, being more likely to remain at sea. The US National Hurricane Center categorized Jose as a Category 4 storm but noted the system was weakening.
Jenna Delaney, senior oil analyst with PIRA Energy, an analytics unit of S&P Global Platts in Houston, said about 1 million b/d, or 8%, of US refining capacity remained fully shut in as of Sept. 8. ExxonMobil Corp. was preparing to restart its Beaumont, Tex., refinery.
“Gasoline prices continued to decline into the close of the week, but remain elevated compared to pre-storm levels,” Delaney said.
Energy prices
The October light, sweet crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell $1.61 on Sept. 8 to settle at $47.48/bbl while the November contract dropped $1.47 to settle at $48.06/bbl.
The NYMEX natural gas price for October fell 9¢ to $2.89/MMbtu. The Henry Hub cash gas price was down 5¢ to $2.83/MMbtu.
Heating oil for October declined 2¢ to a rounded $1.77/gal. The NYMEX reformulated gasoline blendstock for October was down 1¢ to settle at a rounded $1.65/gal on Sept. 8.
The Brent crude contract for November on London’s ICE declined 71¢ to $53.78/bbl. The December contract fell 75¢ to $53.58/bbl. The gas oil contract was $527.50/tonne on Sept. 8, up $1.50.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ basket of crudes for Sept. 8 was $52.53/bbl, up 5¢.
Contact Paula Dittrick at [email protected].
