EIA Special Report on Katrina
The link for those who have been following the issue of Katrina and energy/oil/gasoline.
The first thing to jump out at me is the good news about the LOOP (the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port). While the LOOP has been shut down since Sunday, it appears to have suffered no catastrophic damage and the big issue for getting it back in operation would be restoring electrical power. I imagine that could take awhile considering the devestation in that region.
Also of note is that gasoline near-month futures were up substantially more than crude oil prices. Crude is at $69./81, but gasoline is up over 20% at 247.5 cents per gallon (an increase of 41.1 cents per gallon). So as predicted gasoline prices have gone up substantially. It is a bit surprising that oil isn’t up more, but oh well lets not look a gift horse in the mouth.