Gasoline Spikes To 7-Month Highs After Harvey; Heating Oil, Crude Jump

The entire energy futures complex is notably higher at the open with RBOB Gasoline spiking over 5% to its highest since January amid the carnage of Hurricane Harvey.

Bloomberg reports that Harvey, the strongest storm to hit the U.S. since 2004, made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane Friday, with torrential rain flooding cities from Corpus Christi to Houston and shutting plants able to process some 2.26 million barrels a day of oil. Major terminals and pipelines that move crude and fuel into and out of Houston-area refineries were also shut, potentially stranding some crude in West Texas and starving New York Harbor of gasoline.

“Gasoline prices are going to continue to rise this week as we expect another three days of rain in the Houston area,” Andy Lipow, president of consultant Lipow Oil Associates LLC in Houston, said by telephone.

“With pipeline operators beginning to shut down their crude oil and refined product infrastructure, I expect to see further curtailment of refinery operations, resulting in less product being available. A spike in gasoline and diesel prices will drag up crude oil prices.”

WTI is also higher as ~378.6k b/d of oil output from Gulf of Mexico is shut pushing RBOB Gasoline and WTI higher.

Sept. RBOB is exploding.

And Oct RBOB at its highest since Jan 2017…

The Oct. Nymex RBOB-WTI crack spread has spiked to $19.94.

NatGas and Heating Oil are also up.

“Prices will likely rise “just because of worries, but the real impact might not be clear for a couple of days,” Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research in Winchester, Massachusetts, said by email.