SINGAPORE (Reuters) - U.S. crude prices surged 7 percent to a new record high above $70 a barrel in opening trade on Monday as Hurricane Katrina, one of the most powerful U.S. storms ever, shut in oil production and closed refineries.
Oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange soared nearly $5 to a new record high of $70.80 a barrel, above last week's previous record $68, after producers and refiners shut down operations ahead of the maximum power Category 5 hurricane.
It was later trading up $3.72 a barrel, 5.6 percent, at $69.85 as traders feared the storm could do lasting damage to infrastructure, further straining an industry that has struggled to keep up with robust demand growth for the past two years.
Oil producers in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico have closed down 633,000 barrels per day (bpd) of production capacity, about 42 percent of the total in the Gulf, the companies said on Sunday. The Gulf provides about a quarter of total U.S. domestic crude production.
Seven southeast Louisiana refineries with a combined daily refining capacity of 1.449 million bpd were shut, about 8.5 percent of U.S. crude processing capacity.
Full story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050828/bs_nm/markets_asia_nymex_dc
Oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange soared nearly $5 to a new record high of $70.80 a barrel, above last week's previous record $68, after producers and refiners shut down operations ahead of the maximum power Category 5 hurricane.
It was later trading up $3.72 a barrel, 5.6 percent, at $69.85 as traders feared the storm could do lasting damage to infrastructure, further straining an industry that has struggled to keep up with robust demand growth for the past two years.
Oil producers in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico have closed down 633,000 barrels per day (bpd) of production capacity, about 42 percent of the total in the Gulf, the companies said on Sunday. The Gulf provides about a quarter of total U.S. domestic crude production.
Seven southeast Louisiana refineries with a combined daily refining capacity of 1.449 million bpd were shut, about 8.5 percent of U.S. crude processing capacity.
Full story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050828/bs_nm/markets_asia_nymex_dc
