Gustav loses grip on energy prices

Oil, gas prices dip after hurricane

A driver surveys the damage to a Conoco gas station Monday after Hurricane Gustav stormed through Houma, La.

? The punch of Hurricane Gustav appeared to fall softly Monday on the vast energy complex along the U.S. Gulf Coast, alleviating fears of a fuel shortage and potentially delivering a break to businesses and consumers.

As winds passed over land and winds began to subside, oil market traders began to focus not on storm damage, but on their growing anxiety over the state of the global economy.

Even with 110 mph winds raking refineries that line the coast and rushed over the deep-water rigs off the shores of Texas and Louisiana, the price for a barrel of oil plummeted by more than $4 a barrel to just above $111 because Gustav was weaker than expected.

The average price for a gallon of gasoline slipped less than a cent overnight after beginning to rise for the first time in more than a month on the storm’s approach, according to the auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express.

Still, the storm’s impact on production platforms, drilling rigs and other equipment likely won’t be fully known for another day or so.

Assuming no damage, it typically takes two to four days to restart a refinery, depending on its size. It can take a day or two to get offshore oil and natural-gas production going again. In 2005, hurricanes Katrina and Rita knocked out the region’s offshore energy infrastructure for several weeks.

Transocean Inc., the world’s largest offshore drilling contractor, said Monday afternoon it appeared its three moored, semisubmersible rigs in the Gulf remained anchored in position during the storm.

“We still need to send at least one spotter plane out to double-check,” the company said.

Transocean said eight other rigs that used thrusters to move out of the storm’s path also were safe and would be moving back to their drilling locations as soon as Monday evening.

In recent days, oil companies shut down virtually all oil and natural gas production in the Gulf, and the storm’s threat halted about 15 percent of the nation’s refining capacity based in the region.

Any serious damage to oil platforms and rigs or prolonged refining disruptions could cause a spike in energy prices. Eqecat Inc., a risk modeling firm, projected Monday that Gustav could knock out capacity for about 5 percent of both oil and natural gas production for the next year.

However, one factor likely to mitigate any impact from the storm on prices is that many analysts believe the country’s appetite for fuel has been reduced by high prices and slower economic growth.

“U.S. demand has fallen dramatically,” said Linda Rafield, an analyst at Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos. “People look like they’re making what I’d call a long-term adjustment in consumption patterns.”

All that appeared to be supporting oil prices during the past week was Gustav. With many betting the U.S. energy complex in the Gulf survived largely intact, attention returned almost immediately to the state of the global economy.

Markets in Asia tumbled. The sell-off in Europe was less pronounced.

Light, sweet crude for October delivery fell $4.34 to $111.12 in late afternoon electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Friday, the contract fell 13 cents to settle at $115.46 a barrel.

The U.S. Gulf Coast is home to nearly half the nation’s refining capacity, while offshore, the Gulf accounts for about 25 percent of domestic oil production and 15 percent of natural gas output.

Gustav churned through an area with one of the Gulf’s vital assets: the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, which shut down operations over the weekend. The facility handles about 12 percent of the nation’s crude imports and is tied by pipeline to about half the nation’s refining capacity, much of it along the Mississippi River from the New Orleans area north to Baton Rouge.

Any prolonged closure of LOOP, as it’s called, could severely disrupt crude imports and their shipment to refineries. LOOP is located about 18 miles south of Grand Isle, La.

“We will not attempt to assess damage (if any) until the storm passes,” said Mark Lambert of the Louisiana Department of Transportation. “We have no reports, either confirmed or unconfirmed, of damage to LOOP.”

The petroleum industry has spent hundreds of millions of dollars since the catastrophic hurricanes of 2005 strengthening its operations both offshore and inland. The enhancements include stronger moorings for production platforms, deeper pipelines and greater supplies of backup electricity and other supplies.

“The industry is much better prepared this time around to cope with any wind or water damage,” Rafield said.

Gustav’s strength at landfall was nowhere near that of Katrina and Rita, a factor that oil analyst Jim Ritterbusch said likely contributed to falling oil prices.

Eating away at prices even before the storm entered the Gulf were suggestions that additional crude supplies would enter the market if Gustav caused severe damage to the Gulf’s oil facilities and hampered production.

The Paris-based International Energy Agency said Monday it was closely monitoring the storm and, “bearing in mind prevailing market conditions, … stands ready to act quickly and provide oil to the market as it did after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.”

The IEA is the energy watchdog for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a grouping of the world’s most industrialized countries.