AMSTERDAM: US crude oil prices are on track to post the steepest monthly losses in more than a year on Thursday as concerns spread over falling demand in the world’s top oil-consuming country after storm Harvey knocked out almost a quarter of its refineries.
But prices rallied in the oil products markets, with US gasoline futures RBc1 hitting a two-year high above $2 a gallon, buoyed by fears of a fuel shortage just days ahead of the Labor Day weekend that typically sees a surge in driving.
Harvey, which brought record flooding to the US oil heartland of Texas and killed at least 35 people, has paralyzed at least 4.4 million barrels per day (bpd) of refining capacity, according to company reports and Reuters estimates.
The country’s biggest fuel transport system, the Colonial Pipeline, also said it would shut its main diesel, jet fuel and gasoline lines because of outages at its supply points.
Traders from Europe to Asia were scrambling to fix fuel cargoes to the US, with price reporting agency Argus registering a record monthly trade volume of European gasoline barges.
Analysts at Goldman Sachs and Stifel said infrastructure outages could last several months, although it was difficult to estimate the exact damage.
US oil set for biggest monthly loss in over a year as floods hit demand
Updated 31 August 2017
US oil set for biggest monthly loss in over a year as floods hit demand
