Sam Fletcher
Senior Writer
HOUSTON, Oct. 25 -- Crude futures prices fell Oct. 24 as Hurricane Wilma avoided most of the oil and natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico before hitting southwest Florida as a Category 3 storm.
The US Minerals Management Service said evacuations increased to 243 offshore platforms and 24 drilling rigs in the gulf, although most of the evacuation occurred prior to Hurricane Rita in late September. The amount of production shut in increased to more than 1 million b/d of crude and 5.5 bcfd of natural gas. Production lost from the gulf since Aug. 26 totaled 67.5 million bbl of crude and 342.5 bcf of natural gas. That's equivalent to 12.3% of the crude and 9.4% of the natural gas normally produced in a year from the Gulf of Mexico.
Four refineries remain shut down because hurricane threats or damage: BP PLC at Texas City, Tex.; ExxonMobil Corp. at Chalmette, La.; ConocoPhillips at Belle Chasse, La.; and Murphy Oil Corp. at Mereaux, La. Their capacities total 991,000 b/d.
Several other refineries affected by the hurricanes are not yet back to full operation.
Energy prices
The December contract for benchmark US sweet, light crudes dropped 31¢ to $60.32/bbl Oct. 24 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The January contract declined by 27¢ to $60.55/bbl. On the US spot market, West Texas Intermediate at Cushing, Okla., dipped by 6¢ to $61.13/bbl. Heating oil for November delivery on NYMEX fell by 6.92¢ to $1.80/gal. Gasoline for the same month lost 5.83¢ to $1.58/gal.
However, the November natural gas contract gained 13.2¢ to $13/MMbtu on NYMEX, "on a firmer cash [spot] market with cooler weather this week despite early selling as Hurricane Wilma missed most Gulf of Mexico production platforms," said analysts at Enerfax Daily.
In London, the December contract for North Sea Brent crude declined by 24¢ to $58.24/bbl on the International Petroleum Exchange. However, gas oil for November increased by $2 to $557.75/tonne.
The average price for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' basket of 11 benchmark crudes climbed by 16¢ to $52.63/bbl on Oct. 24.
Contact Sam Fletcher at [email protected].
