Katrina Cuts Oil Output by Third

[Nbadan]

Gulf of Mexico crude oil output was cut by more than one-third on Saturday as Hurricane Katrina appeared poised to charge through central production areas toward New Orleans.

The Gulf of Mexico is home to roughly a quarter of U.S. domestic oil and gas output, with a capacity to produce about 1.5 million barrels per day of crude and 12.3 billion cubic feet per day of gas.

Shell also said 1.345 billion cubic feet per day, or Bfd, of natural gas had been shut by Saturday. Total daily Gulf natural gas output shut on Saturday was 1.9 billion cubic feet.

. . .

The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port LLC stopped offloading tankers in the Gulf of Mexico at midday on Saturday. The LOOP, which is the only U.S. offshore oil port, takes an average 1 million barrels in foreign crude from tankers in the Gulf.

MSN (http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.asp?Feed=OBR&Date=20050827&ID=5068066)

Great, just great.

[Nbadan]

Here (http://www.wwltv.com/perl/common/video/wmPlayer.pl?title=beloint_wwltv&props=livenoad) is a link to an excellent local news feed from the Na' OLeans area.

Preparations for Katrina continue.

[MannyIsGod]

Ivan killed 6% of the entire production for the year out of the US last year. This is looking really fucking simmillar.

Oil prices are likely to skyrocket on monday and are more than likely going to breech 70 per barrell.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Yep, if you need gas better go fill up asap.

[Clandestino]

if you fill up now, you will save maybe 1 dollar.. your only hope would be to buy a swimming pool size gas tank! haha...

[scott]

There is A LOT of refining capacity around New Orleans. Not quite like the Houston/Texas City complex, but it is major. I wouldn't rull out an open of over $70 for crude tomorrow, and when the thing hits I'd say we could push $75. Some of the offshore platforms had some trouble with the last hurricanes that came through (Dennis, I guess) - it will be interesting to see how they stand up against this.

Also, New Orleans is a major port - there are a lot of goods going in and out of that port... we could be looking at some significant inflationary pressures aside from just higher petroleum prices.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

f you fill up now, you will save maybe 1 dollar.. your only hope would be to buy a swimming pool size gas tank! haha..

You're looking at a lot more than a dollar. The early forecasts are for gas prices to jump 20-30 CENTS per gallon. You do the math.

[Clandestino]

we'll go with .20 a gallon increase. .20x20 gallon gas tank. 4 bux saved if you drive a large vehicle... i guess it is better than nothing. but when you run out, you will still be paying the higher prices...

[scott]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050828/ap_on_bi_ge/hurricane_katrina_oil

Katrina Targeting U.S. Oil Operations

By JUSTIN BACHMAN, AP Business Writer
51 minutes ago



NEW YORK - With crude oil prices already at record levels, a hurricane targeted the heart of America's oil and refinery operations Sunday, shutting down an estimated 1 million barrels of daily production and threatening to curtail refining activity in the region.

Katrina, a Category 5 storm expected to strike near New Orleans early Monday, was churning through the Gulf of Mexico. The area is crucial to the nation's energy infrastructure — offshore oil and gas production, import terminals, pipeline networks and numerous refining operations throughout southern Louisiana and Mississippi.

The hurricane followed a path similar to the one taken last September by Ivan, which caused heavy damage and reduced the region's output for months. Yet Katrina's 175-mph wind was fiercer.

Oil companies have evacuated workers and closed at about 1 million barrels of daily production in the Gulf, but that amount could be higher because not every producer reports data, said Peter Beutel, an oil analyst with Cameron Hanover.

"It's not looking real friendly here. This is unmitigated, bad news for consumers," he said.

Gasoline prices could see the largest spikes because so many refineries in the region could be shut down by flooding, power outages, or both, energy analysts said.

The U.S. has ample crude oil supplies, even if major hurricane destruction trims Gulf oil output and foreign imports, but refining capacity is extraordinarily tight. As a result, prices for gasoline, heating oil, jet fuel and other products have flirted with records and could go even higher this week.

"If this thing knocks out significant quantities of refining capacity ... we're going to be in deep, dark trouble," said Ed Silliere, vice president of risk management at Energy Merchant LLC in New York.

The market has been on edge for months, with traders and speculators buying on the slightest fear. With Katrina, all those fears could be realized, Beutel said.

"Basically I could spill a can of oil at my local gas station and you'd see the price of crude go up by $1 per barrel," he said, predicting futures would likely top $70 per barrel in coming sessions.

Crude settled at $66.13 a barrel Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down $1.36 after hitting $68 last week.

In many ways, Katrina was expected to be inconsequential to the energy industry, with many traders selling on Friday as the storm moved across Florida and was seen as moving north and striking the Florida Panhandle as a tropical storm with little impact. That all changed Saturday, when the system gained power and charged west, directly into areas of offshore oil production.

ChevronTexaco Corp. completed evacuations of all workers in the eastern and central Gulf of Mexico and nonessential workers in the western Gulf late Saturday, company spokesman Matt Carmichael said.

Chevron has about 2,100 employees and contractors working in the Gulf, Carmichael said. Chevron will continue to produce 90 percent of its normal production by remote as long as weather cooperates, he said.

The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, which processes loads from tankers too large for mainland ports, evacuated all workers and stopped unloading ships on Saturday morning said Mark Bugg, the terminal's manager of scheduling. The LOOP, 20 miles offshore, is the nation's largest oil import terminal and handles 11 percent of U.S. oil imports.

Royal Dutch-Shell Group evacuated more than 1,000 offshore workers by Saturday. Only those in the far west remained, the company said on its Web site. BP PLC and ExxonMobil Corp. also brought workers ashore Saturday.

Shell estimated 420,000 barrels of oil and 1.35 million cubic feet of gas per day will be shut in at its central and eastern Gulf facilities. Exxon Mobil said it has ceased daily production of 3,000 barrels of oil and 50 million cubic feet of gas.

Valero Energy Corp. evacuated all but a few workers at its 260,000-barrel-a-day St. Charles refinery on Saturday. Murphy Oil Corp. also shut down its 120,000-barrel-a-day Meraux, La., refinery, and Exxon Mobil Corp. planned to shut down its 183,000-barrel-a-day refinery in Chalmette, La.

Motiva Enterprises, a joint venture of Royal Dutch Shell PLC and state-owned Saudi Arabian Oil Co., began implementing hurricane contingency plans at its 225,000-barrel-a-day Norco refinery on Saturday. Motiva also was exploring contingencies for its 235,000-barrel-a-day Convent refinery, about 45 miles west of New Orleans, Dow Jones Newswires reported.

[scott]

Just checked on electronic trading...

October WTI has had a few trades at $70.50...

[T Park]

drill and refine the hell out of Alaska....

[jochhejaam]

Just filled up for 2.58 gal. Last of the "cheap" gas.

[Dos]

filled up for 2.45 at HEB last night...

[Dos]

I think we can say goodbye to new orleans... maybe San Antonio will get a NFL team after all.

[Clandestino]

I think we can say goodbye to new orleans... maybe San Antonio will get a NFL team after all.

no shit! :lmao

[Clandestino]

SYDNEY (Reuters) - U.S. oil prices surged to a record above $70 a barrel on Monday as one of the country's biggest storms tore through the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, forcing oil producers and refiners to shut down operations.

U.S. crude oil futures soared nearly $5 a barrel in opening trade to touch a fresh peak of $70.80 a barrel, surpassing last week's $68 high to the highest price since the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) began trading contracts in 1983.

It later traded up $3.42 a barrel, 5.2 percent, at $69.55.

Oil product and natural gas prices also shot higher to records, with gasoline soaring 10 percent to $2.13 a gallon and heating oil rocketing past $2 a gallon for the first time. Natural gas prices were up 20 percent.

Prices leapt as Hurricane Katrina, the eleventh named storm of what is expected to be an unusually severe season, threatened to do lasting damage to the vital U.S. oil and refining region, further straining an industry that has struggled to keep up with two years of strongly rising oil demand.

More than 40 percent of all U.S. Gulf of Mexico crude oil production was reported closed down as a result of the hurricane, with the total expected to rise significantly as more operators report affected production to the U.S. government on Monday.

Katrina revved up to a maximum Category 5 hurricane at the weekend, far stronger than last year's Hurricane Ivan, which tore up platforms and pipelines along a very similar path through the Gulf, disrupting oil production for months.

The U.S. Gulf of Mexico normally pumps about 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude, a quarter of domestic output and equivalent to nearly 2 percent of global oil production.

"This is certainly reminiscent of Ivan last year," said David Thurtell, commodity strategist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

"We can expect two months of lost production, and coming in the peak demand period this is the worst possible news. The only way we can avoid yet higher prices is if
President Bush releases supply from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve."

The administration has said in the past it would release oil from the 700-million-barrel SPR only during a serious supply disruption, but has never given further details.

In New Orleans, hundreds of thousands of residents were advised to leave as Katrina was expected to make landfall near the low-lying Gulf Coast city around sunrise on Monday.

Apart from the impact on crude production, dealers fear the storm will tighten supplies of consumer fuels. Gasoline stockpiles are already at the low end of their seasonal norm.

Seven southeast Louisiana refineries with a combined daily refining capacity of 1.449 million barrels of crude oil had shut down ahead of Katrina making landfall, an amount equal to 8.5 percent of total U.S. refining capacity.

Two of those refineries near New Orleans -- the 190,000 bpd Chalmette Refining LLC and Murphy Oil Corp's 120,000 bpd Meraux plant -- appeared to be directly in the path of the storm.

NO CUSHION

Dealers are particularly concerned about damage as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (
OPEC) is already pumping at near its full capacity, leaving it little room to make up for any lasting outages.

OPEC's president said at the weekend that soaring prices were of rising concern to the cartel, which controls half the world's oil exports, but that they should begin to eases as higher costs begin to curb demand.

"OPEC will be exploring various options for the September meeting which will hopefully contribute to moderate prices," said OPEC President Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahd al-Sabah, also Kuwait's oil minister, in an English language statement in Kuwait City.

He did not elaborate on the nature of these options. OPEC meets on Sept. 19 to chart output policy.

Production elsewhere in the world was also under strain, with
Iran's 90,000 barrel-per-day Nowruz oilfield, being developed by Royal Dutch/Shell, shut down owing to technical problems, a senior Iranian oil official was quoted as saying on Saturday.

And in Ecuador, where output has only just returned to normal after being hobbled by a week-long protest, activists vowed on Sunday to resume protests within the next 48 hours if energy firms to not agree to increase local investment.

[Jelly]

I filled up the other day at $2.69. That sucked enough, now I'm reading that we can expect a 20 cent increase within a few days? ouch.

[Clandestino]

this hurricane is all shrub's fault!

[Jelly]

this hurricane is all shrub's fault!

yeah...and this whole war for oil policy hasn't helped us much!

[boutons]

"whole war for oil policy hasn't helped us much!"

Quit complaining, the war is working grea.
The war for oil is intended to help the oil companies, not us.

[Nbadan]

Let's throw some politics into the Katrina equation:


Bush has slashed Clinton's Disaster Mitigation Program.

"...Among emergency specialists, 'mitigation' -- the measures taken in advance to minimize the damage caused by natural disasters -- is a crucial part of the strategy to save lives and cut recovery costs. But since 2001, key federal disaster mitigation programs, developed over many years, have been slashed and tossed aside. FEMA's Project Impact, a model mitigation program created by the Clinton administration, has been canceled outright. Federal funding of post-disaster mitigation efforts designed to protect people and property from the next disaster has been cut in half. Communities across the country must now compete for pre-disaster mitigation dollars.

As a result, some state and local emergency managers say, it's become more difficult to get the equipment and funds they need to most effectively deal with disasters. In Louisiana, requests for flood mitigation funds were rejected by FEMA this summer. (See sidebar.) In North Carolina, a state also regularly threatened by hurricanes and floods, FEMA recently refused the state's request to buy backup generators for emergency support facilities. And the budget cuts have halved the funding for a mitigation program that saved an estimated $8.8 million in recovery costs in three eastern North Carolina communities alone after 1999's Hurricane Floyd.

Consequently, the residents of these and other disaster-prone states will find the government less able to help them when help is needed most, and both states and the federal government will be forced to shoulder more recovery costs after disasters strike.

In addition, the White House has pushed for privatization of essential government services, including disaster management, and merged FEMA into the Department of Homeland Security -- where, critics say, natural disaster programs are often sidelined by counter-terrorism programs. Along the way, morale at FEMA has plummeted, and many of the agency's most experienced personnel have left for work in other government agencies or private corporations..."

Best Of New Orleans (http://www.bestofneworleans.com/dispatch/2004-09-28/cover_story.html)

More:


"Before FEMA was condensed into Homeland Security Š it responded much more quickly," says Walter Maestri, director of Jefferson Parish's Office of Emergency Management. Maestri has worked with FEMA for eight years. "Truthfully, you had access to the individuals who were the decision-makers. The FEMA administrator had Cabinet status. Now, you have another layer of bureaucracy. FEMA is headed by an assistant secretary who now has to compete with other assistant secretaries of Homeland Security for available funds. And elevating houses is not as sexy as providing gas masks."

Maestri is still awaiting word from FEMA officials as to why Louisiana, despite being called the "floodplain of the nation" in a 2002 FEMA report, received no disaster mitigation grant money from FEMA in 2003 ("Homeland Insecurity," Sept. 28). Maestri says the rejection left emergency officials around the state "flabbergasted."

The Best Of New Orleans (http://www.bestofneworleans.com/dispatch/2004-10-05/commentary.html)

[blaze89]

I filled up today at 2.41 a gallon. I was surprised it was that low and stayed that low for a few days...until Monday.

[Nbadan]

Oil is currently at $69.86. You can check the current price here (http://bloomberg.com/energy/).

[SWC Bonfire]

This is a scenario more in-line with tapping the federal reserve, but unfortunately the bottleneck would be refining, not crude oil supply.

[Cant_Be_Faded]

how convenient

does Clandestino want oil prices to get/stay high?

[spurster]

http://money.cnn.com/2005/08/31/news/gas_prices/index.htm

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Consumers can expect retail gas prices to rise to $4 a gallon soon but whether they stay there depends on the long-term damage to oil facilities from Hurricane Katrina, oil and gas analysts said Wednesday.

...

[Nbadan]

gas prices to rise to $4 a gallon

Hello? Sperminator? Marcus Bryant? Clan?

Cat got your tongue? I thought so.

Just wait till I post my prediction for gas prices for 05-06. I'm sure they will have plenty to say then.

[Extra Stout]

The economy can't handle $4 a gallon. That will start a deep recession.

[Useruser666]

Hello? Sperminator? Marcus Bryant? Clan?

Cat got your tongue? I thought so.

Just wait till I post my prediction for gas prices for 05-06. I'm sure they will have plenty to say then.

Pffttt. Your prediction was not based on a hurricane. Give it a rest.

[Nbadan]

The economy can't handle $4 a gallon. That will start a deep recession.

$4 a gallon I find is the psychological tipping point that people consider the price of gas to be irrationally expensive. So your right, people will start curtailing their expenses in other things especially expensive electronics, going out to eat, and newer vehicles which could lead to a recession in 05. This problem will be compounded by the growing inventory of unsold homes which has been steadily rising sending the nations largest growth sector - home construction - into a tailspin.

In some ways Katrina could be a blessing, and Yes, I know its hard to see it that way with 100's perhaps 1,000's of people dead and thousands of homes destroyed, but as happens in most disaster areas, money starts flowing into the area, people start working on rebuilding and paying taxes, materials are bought and sold, revenue gets generated. In other words, exactly everything you need to combat a recession.

[Nbadan]

Pffttt. Your prediction was not based on a hurricane. Give it a rest.

In my predictions I said there would be a 'short-term event'. A hurricane hitting N'Oleans certainly qualifies as a short term event.

[Extra Stout]

So your right, people will start curtailing their expenses in other things especially expensive electronics, going out to eat, and newer vehicles which could lead to a recession in 05. This problem will be compounded by the growing inventory of unsold homes which has been steadily rising sending the nations largest growth sector - home construction - into a tailspin. One caveat on the newer vehicles... the gas savings alone would pay for somebody driving a 12-mpg gas-guzzling truck to purchase a small fuel-efficient car for commuting.

[Spurminator]

Hello? Sperminator? Marcus Bryant? Clan?

Cat got your tongue? I thought so.

Just wait till I post my prediction for gas prices for 05-06. I'm sure they will have plenty to say then.


:lol

The only time I have ever argued your prediction of a $4 gallon of gas was last year when you said it would happen by the end of 2004, which you now conveniently deny.

Never have I argued that it wouldn't or couldn't eventually happen. I especially would not have argued that a natural disaster of biblical proportions wouldn't have caused gasoline to approach that level.

But here's a backpatter for you all the same. Horray for Katrina, for confirming Dan's prediction that gas prices "could reach levels of $3-$4."

[Nbadan]

One caveat on the newer vehicles... the gas savings alone would pay for somebody driving a 12-mpg gas-guzzling truck to purchase a small fuel-efficient car for commuting.

Yes, but it takes credit and at least some money to buy a newer vehicles and many people unfortunately have streched themselves very thin with speculation in expensive real estate. Easy credit has allowed many people to buy more house than they could afford otherwise. This could be a wise long-term investment, especially in the flat-land of SA where price were depressed before the latest boom, but gas driven inflation will stretch many household budgets in the short-term.

[Nbadan]

But here's a backpatter for you all the same. Horray for Katrina, for confirming Dan's prediction that gas prices "could reach levels of $3-$4."

So tell me Sperminator, where do you see gas prices going in 05-06?

[Spurminator]

I've always been willing to say I don't know enough to make predictions about where they are headed or the economical ramifications of such price increases. I've only called you out for revising original predictions which were politically motivated in light of upcoming elections, then patting yourself on the back when those revised predictions start to resemble reality.

Frankly, I don't care enough to belabour it or get into a pissing contest, but now you're calling me out for supposedly denying that a $4 gallon would be reached at some point, which I never would have done seeing as I wouldn't really have a clue how to forecast such a thing.

[Useruser666]

I bet gas will one day cost $6.00 a gallon!!!! OMG! :lol

[Nbadan]

I bet gas will one day cost $6.00 a gallon!!!! OMG! :lol

That's easy to say now that the gas crisis has metamorphosis into what it is now, a run-away train, but I made my prediction when gas was $1.30 and everybody, including Scott, was saying that there was an adequate supply of raw crude and refining capacity to keep prices artificially low for the foreseeable future. Guess not.

[Marcus Bryant]

Nbadan's $4 a gallon prediction must've come in one of the '000s of his threads I've scrolled by over the past year.

Since I'm long in VLO, frankly, I could care less about who said what when. :)

[j-6]

.

[Useruser666]

That's easy to say now that the gas crisis has metamorphosis into what it is now, a run-away train, but I made my prediction when gas was $1.30 and everybody, including Scott, was saying that there was an adequate supply of raw crude and refining capacity to keep prices artificially low for the foreseeable future. Guess not.

Predicting gas prices will rise is an empty prediction. It's like saying land value will go up. Trying predicting something that isn't a GIVEN.

[Clandestino]

how convenient

does Clandestino want oil prices to get/stay high?

no, that is manny.

[Clandestino]

nbadan, stfu.. you didn't foresee a hurricane wiping out new orleans causing gas to go up.. your predictions are like fortune cookies... pretty fucking vague..

[gtownspur]

Its sad when a hurricane came in and wiped out hundreds of people and causing a tragedie, and then in a split second causing kooks like Nbadan and his "Blame America" bordello to have orgasmic happiness over rising oil prices. They will somehow try to pin the blame on Bush even if its outright false. But anything like this goes when you have the liberal/socialist mindset of morality as being anything that furthers your cause.

Sounds strangely familiar of the same behavior when an article is posted about high casualties.

[Nbadan]

http://cagle.msnbc.com/working/050830/davies.gif

http://cagle.msnbc.com/working/050830/donwright.gif

http://cagle.msnbc.com/working/050830/sheneman00.gif

http://cagle.msnbc.com/working/050830/brookins.jpg

[gtownspur]

ITs sad when this Douchebag comes across a post that disagrees with him and then all of the sudden use pussy cartoons to speak for him.

Wow what intellectual Doonesbury might you have. Twat.

[mookie2001]

gtown go stuff yourself

[Nbadan]

Gtownspur is entitled to his opinion no matter how misguided it may be. Doesn't mean I have to respond to ad havoc attacks.

Price gauging Oil is occuring throughout the south. CNN just reported that gas is going for $4.99 in some stations in Atlanta and because of the hording many stations are starting to run out of gas.

[scott]

That's easy to say now that the gas crisis has metamorphosis into what it is now, a run-away train, but I made my prediction when gas was $1.30 and everybody, including Scott, was saying that there was an adequate supply of raw crude and refining capacity to keep prices artificially low for the foreseeable future. Guess not.

Link?

[JoeChalupa]

The price of gas really bites.

I know I've cut back on expenses that I control.

Nothing but sack lunches at work and we cut some stuff off our cell phones to save some extra cash.

[Nbadan]

Folks, this gas crisis is gonna get much worse than anyone is currently expecting...


WASHINGTON (AFP) - At least 20 oil rigs and platforms are missing in the Gulf of Mexico and a ruptured gas pipeline is on fire after Hurricane Katrina tore through the region, a US Coast Guard official said.

"We have confirmed at least 20 rigs or platforms missing, either sunk or adrift, and one confirmed fire where a rig was," Petty Officer Robert Reed of the Louisiana Coast Guard told AFP.

All of the missing rigs were in the Gulf of Mexico, Reed said citing Coast Guard overflights of the area and information from oil companies.

He could not confirm the location of the blaze but said it would "eventually burn out" and no fire-fighting intervention was needed.

"We are of course working on the environmental side of things but right now we are still concentrating on search-and-rescue missions to save as many lives as possible on land," said Reed, whose own Coast Guard team has been evacuated from the flooded city of New Orleans to Alexandria, Louisiana.

According to the latest tally Wednesday from the federal Minerals Management Service, a total of 561 platforms and rigs have been evacuated in the Gulf of Mexico, which accounts for a quarter of US oil production.

Over 91 percent of normal daily crude oil production in the Gulf -- 1.5 million barrels -- is now shut down, and more than 83 percent of natural gas production, the MMS said.

Among the firms reporting missing rigs was Newfield Exploration Company, which said an aerial survey of its operations in the eastern Gulf showed that one of its platforms at Main Pass 138 "appears to have been lost in the storm".

Lost platforms and a large pipeline fire aside, the real shortages will come from the lack of refined gas..


In response, the US government prepared Wednesday to open its emergency oil reserves for the first time in a year to keep supplies running to those refineries still operating.

The United States keeps 700 million barrels of oil stored in four underground salt caverns on the Texas and Louisiana coasts to cushion oil markets during supply disruptions.

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which was created during the 1970s oil shocks, was last used after Hurricane Ivan in September 2004, when five million barrels of crude oil were released.

"It's really getting critical in some situations," PFC Energy analyst Seth Kleinman said.

"Until refiners are up and running, and pipelines have power and get product up here, it's looking very precarious," he said.

The government said that Katrina, one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the United States, would have only a "modest" impact on the economy. But analysts were not so sure.

As gasoline prices jumped across the United States, Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said the White House decided late Tuesday to tap the reserve following a request from the oil industry.

"Last night I approved a company's request for loan from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. I fully expect that the details of that loan will be released later today," Bodman told a press conference.

Industry analysts expected the oil to be shipped to refineries further west in Texas, which escaped unscathed from Katrina but are now running low on crude supplies because of production interruptions in the Gulf of Mexico region.

At least eight refineries have been shut down on the coasts of Louisiana and Mississippi since Katrina roared ashore early Monday just east of New Orleans.

Many other refineries are struggling to cope with shortfalls of crude caused by the closure of pipelines from rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, where oil production has ground to a virtual halt, and of major ports.

Two of the Louisiana tanker terminals hit by the hurricane -- Port Fourchon and the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port -- combined handle more than 20 percent of all the crude oil imported into the United States.

While additional supplies of oil will be helpful in keeping crude prices from reaching 80 dollars a barrel, the real supply constraints are with refined products made from crude, said Wachovia economist Jason Schenker.

"There is no strategic government reserve of natural gas or refined products, and right now the biggest concerns in the marketplace are for products," Schenker said.

"At the end of the day, it may not matter for gasoline and heating oil prices how much crude comes out of the SPR," he said.

Yahoo news (http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20050831/ts_afp/usweatheroilgulfrigs_050831213040)

One of the problems that is compounding the growingly dire situation in the Southeast is that many truckers work on specialized gas cards that use phone lines or frame relay to get authorization to allow the drivers to buy fuel. Most of the phone lines and frame connections in the southeast are down. Dispatchers are calling trucking companies asking if their drivers are even still alive. .

Many major Truck Stop chains are simply out of fuel. Already.

Most of the ones who are not out, are limiting the amount that can be pumped. That means that the drivers are having to hop from one station to another on tanks that are close to empty.

There are numerous reports of price gouging. Several states have issued warnings against price gouging and given 800 numbers to report cases. The 800 numbers are swamped - if you call, all you get is a busy signal.

The gas crisis is spreading throughout the SE.

[whottt]

Dan...shouldn't you be happy about the gas crisis? Isn't this just the thing to get the US off dependence on foreign Oil and petroleum?

I don't see it as the end of the world...I see it as the beginning of the future...the US was never going to move forward in transportation technology until forced to do so...why should they when petroleum is such a cheap an efficient fuel source?

Necessity is the mother of invention...remember that old American adgage for it has always been true with this country...

Well now it isn't comfortable to keep using Oil...and now the American technological impetus can be focused on alternative energy sources out of necessity, instead of it just being a hobby....this makes all the difference in the world when looking to expedite the process of getting off Oil...

To tell you the truth...dependent on Oil is dropping this county behind many other technologically advanced countries...it's going to end up being a positive...for America...for the environment..for the world political climate.

It's a good thing...I hope it never drops below $4.00 again.

[Nbadan]

Whott, if we don't get those trucks moving fast the next crisis we will be talking about is the price gouging of food in the SE. Most metropolitan areas only have 7 days worth of food.

[whottt]

Well that's a short term problem...I am looking at things in the longterm.

[Nbadan]

Look I'm not trying to push the panic button here, Truckers I have chatted with online today say that they expect diesel fuel shortages soon, and if that happens, food will not be getting to the stores or will be severly gouged.

If there is any truth to this rumor, perhaps it might be a wise thing to lay in some canned goods and staples. If it does not come to pass, you aren't out anything as you needed to buy that food eventually anyway.

Fair warning.

[Useruser666]

I have this strange feeling that we will not have food shortages in Texas.

[Nbadan]

I have this strange feeling that we will not have food shortages in Texas.

You go with that then.

[cecil collins]

I know there are a bunch of wild rumors that sometimes turn out to be shit, I will personally heed Dans advice as it can only help me. The problem is, what about the people who don't get the advice, and I'm hording all the food.

[Nbadan]

I know there are a bunch of wild rumors that sometimes turn out to be shit, I will personally heed Dans advice as it can only help me. The problem is, what about the people who don't get the advice, and I'm hording all the food.

This is why I encourage everyone to take only what you need. dry goods and canned foods will last a long time once this immediate crisis is over. There is no need to hoard perishable like milk, meat, and bread. These items have short expiration times and there are no guarantee that your freezer will not have power interupted.

[Useruser666]

I know there are a bunch of wild rumors that sometimes turn out to be shit, I will personally heed Dans advice as it can only help me. The problem is, what about the people who don't get the advice, and I'm hording all the food.

More like all of them are rumors that turn out to be shit. Then the truth or rumor is then bent and twisted somehow to get a far fetched I told you so.

[whottt]

Canned goods?

Fuck that...If food gets tight I am going to go buy me about 25 chickens and a shitload of rice. I'll be a an Egg and Rice eating mofo.

If I need more meat I am going to get on my bike and take my 30/30 out to the hill country and go hunt for deer and feral pig.

Sheyitt.

[SWC Bonfire]

If I need more meat I am going to get on my bike and take my 30/30 out to the hill country and go hunt for deer and feral pig.

I would love to see someone on a bicycle with a side scabbard for a model 94. :lol

[Nbadan]

More like all of them are rumors that turn out to be shit. Then the truth or rumor is then bent and twisted somehow to get a far fetched I told you so.

Once again, there is no food shortage. What we could have here is a hick-up in the distribution system that is now rumored to be effecting the SE and could possibly spread through the NE, in particular because they get so much oil from Louisana, especially diesel and heating oil, but it could easily spread into the South. We are not immune.

[whottt]

I would love to see someone on a bicycle with a side scabbard for a model 94. :lol



I'll put it in my fishing rod cannister....


Getting the hog or deer back home will the be the pain in the ass.

Fuck it...I'll probably just go fishing.

[Useruser666]

I would just walk to one of the close by pastures and ride a cow back home and then slaughter it. :lol

Dan, you are nuts. How will Texas suffer a food shortage? In case you don't know, Texas has a large agricultural base.

[Spurminator]

I wouldn't be surprised to see shelves emptied pretty fast in areas where there are relocated refugees. Just temporary though.

[SWC Bonfire]

I would just walk to one of the close by pastures and ride a cow back home and then slaughter it. :lol


...and then I'd shoot you for stealing my cow! :lol

[Useruser666]

What if I just shaved a few pounds of steak from the sides?

[Nbadan]

Dan, you are nuts. How will Texas suffer a food shortage? In case you don't know, Texas has a large agricultural base.

Look, this is getting all twisted around. The price of oil is tied into everything. The interpedency on gas prices on everything guarantees we will soon be paying more for everything.

We lost 1 million barrels per day in refining capacity when Katrina destroyed NO. That's diesel oil, gasoline, heating oil, almost everything that requires refining is no longer being produced and probably will not be produced for months. So what happens when the short-stock currently in supply runs out? Supply shock, until we put in a workable plan in place to resupply this region with the gasoline and diesel fuel that would normally be produced in Louisiana.

[whottt]

We don't use hardly any petroleum for non automotive needs...

Texas is probably second only to California in terms of alternative energy source implementation...we've got the second most wind fields, nuke power, solar energy, ethanol prodcution...

Oh...and we sit on the second largest Oil field in the US...

The rednecks aren't going to feel this very much.

[SWC Bonfire]

Here's the thing, dan - the increased costs of things are from shipping. If it comes from here, it'll be cheaper here.

[MannyIsGod]

The price of oil is tied into everything, but San Antonio is near 2 major points of entry: Houston and Laredo. We're not going to have a shortage of anything here. Now in places like Denver or Atlanta, where their lines of import are cut off, they will experience short term pain but we're not going to have people starving anymore than we already do.