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Hurricanes shut over 20 pct US refining

Hurricanes shut over 20 pct US refining
Sep 22 10:47 AM US/Eastern

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hurricanes Rita and Katrina have shut at least 20 percent of total U.S. oil refining capacity, which is 17.1 million barrels per day.

Rita, which reached the strongest possible storm Category 5 level on Wednesday, was expected to hit the Houston, Texas, area late Friday or early Saturday. If it veers north of its expected path, it may shut refineries in Beaumont and Port Arthur, Texas. If it veers south, it could shut refineries in Corpus Christi.

About 18 Texan oil refineries are threatened by Hurricane Rita, with a combined production capacity of about 4 million bpd, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said.

On Thursday, eight refineries in the Lone Star State were fully shut, including Exxon Mobil's Baytown refinery, the biggest one in the United States. Three others were at least partially shut.

Meanwhile, four refineries remained shut in Louisiana and Mississippi after last month's Hurricane Katrina.

Together with the 5 percent of U.S. refinery capacity that remains shut from Katrina, the 11 downed or partially downed Texas refineries total more than 20 percent of U.S. oil refining.

Rita hastened evacuations from offshore natural gas and crude oil production facilities, decreasing oil production from the Gulf of Mexico, which produces about a third of U.S. oil.

When Katrina slammed into Louisiana and Mississippi on August 29, it left a wake of toppled platforms offshore. Crews were had been working to fix the damage done by Katrina were evacuated in the face of Rita.

About 73 percent of total offshore oil production and 47.13 percent of natural gas output was shut in.

Together, Rita and Katrina have shut in 27.1 million barrels of crude, less than the 45 million barrels shut by last year's Hurricane Ivan over six months.


LINK: http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/09/22/MTFH83858_2005-09-22_14-55-47_EIC253493.html