Also refinery utilization was lower, which was also unexpected. It means that refineries are not using as much crude, so as a consequence of that we got a larger-then-expected crude build.
Will take time to filter down.
Nobody knows the full extent of the damage. The speculation is that it will be worse than Ivan, but we won't really know for days, until oil companies get personnel out there and survey the damage.
The gasoline draw was a little bit larger then expected, so I think this will support prices.
After Hurricane Ivan, it took several weeks to know the full extent of the damage to seabed pipelines. Some people are quite worried that this time could be worse because of the strength of Katrina.
We were already on the rise through $65 on a few minor (refinery) supply disruptions. It's just another inflammatory issue to add to the short covering at the end of the week.
The fear of a replication of that is going to keep the market on its toes and we could easily test $70 a barrel.
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