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Refining crisis deepens as capacity is lost on both sides of Atlantic
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
oil and energy trends
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1744-7992
pISSN - 0950-1045
DOI - 10.1111/j.1744-7992.2005.301003.x
Subject(s) - refinery , storm , refining (metallurgy) , product (mathematics) , oil refinery , supply chain , environmental science , geography , meteorology , engineering , waste management , political science , environmental engineering , law , chemistry , geometry , mathematics
The devastation by the arrival of hurricanes in rapid succession on the US Gulf Coast highlights how finely balanced the world's refined product supply chain is. Gasoline prices hit record highs around the world as the first of the two hurricanes, Katrina, moved onshore into Louisiana and Mississippi, knocking out some 2.4 mn bpd of refinery capacity. The arrival of its sister storm, Rita, put a further 4.1 mn bpd out of action in Texas whilst nearly 0.9 m bpd remained closed in the aftermath of Katrina. Refiners across the world strove to make up the shortfall in gasoline and other light distillates from the US, only to find in many cases there were insufficient clean tankers to ship the product to the US Gulf.