Crude oil mixed in Asia as U.S. benchmark down on Harvey impact
Crude oil costs were mixed in Asia on Mon within the aftermath because the U.S. benchmark was hit by initial weaker demand expectations when the large hit taken to U.S. coast output and refineries from cyclone doc and innings flooding upcountry in Texas.
The U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude Gregorian calendar month contract fell zero.36% to $47.70 a barrel. Elsewhere, on the ICE forward market in London, brent goose oil for Gregorian calendar month delivery gained zero.40% to $52.19 a barrel.
Hurricane doc has knocked offline ~22% of Gulf of United Mexican States production, or nearly 380M bbl/pay out of one.75M, and ~26% of gas output, or 828M cf/day out of three.22T, in keeping with the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental social control.
In the processing sector, most Texas coast processing and shipping is shut or curtailed. Exxon Mobil (NYSE:NYSE:XOM) closed its Baytown industrial plant at the Houston Ship Channel – the second largest industrial plant within the U.S., with production capability of 560K bbl/day – because of severe flooding.
Royal Dutch Shell (LON:LON:RDSa) (RDS.A, RDS.B) says its 325K bbl/day ruminant Park industrial plant and mill complicated is also shut for every week, Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) shut its 112K bbl/day Pasadena plant, and Phillips sixty six (NYSE:NYSE:PSX) shut its 247K bbl/day Sweeny industrial plant.
All Corpus Christi refineries already were closed, that the Houston plant closures compound worries concerning fuel shortages may|that would|that might} develop as rain continues; long-run industrial plant outages could cause fuel shortages and sharply higher gasolene costs round the U.S.
Houston is also the start line of the large Colonial Pipeline that takes gasolene, diesel and jet fuel as so much north as big apple, however operations had not been affected as of this afternoon; Shell is one in all Colonial\’s partners.
Last week, oil costs concluded higher on Friday, as cyclone doc vulnerable to disrupt production and industrial plant activity on the coast.
Prices received extra support when associate degree update from field services firm Baker Hughes showed its weekly count of oil rigs operative within the U.S. fell for the second time in row, by four rigs to a complete of 759.
The weekly rig count is a very important measuring system for the drilling business and is a proxy for production and oil services demand.