"'You've got refineries that will start shutting down in anticipation of the hurricane, and then if any of them have permanent damage, we're going to be dependent on imports. Following Katrina, this is really serious."
"'This is headed right into our other major refining center just after all the damage done to facilities in Louisiana. From an energy perspective, it doesn't get any worse than this.'
"Crude oil for November delivery rose $1.90, or 2.9 percent, to $68.10 a barrel at 10:01 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures touched $68.27, the highest since Sept. 2. Oil has declined 3.6 percent since touching a record $70.85 a barrel on Aug. 30. Prices are 45 percent higher than a year ago.
"Gasoline for October delivery surged 14.59 cents, or 7.4 percent, to $2.1225 a gallon. Gasoline futures reached $2.92 a gallon on Aug. 31, the highest since trading began in 1984. Futures are 65 percent higher than a year ago."
"'The Houston area is ground zero of the refining industry,' said Rick Mueller, an analyst with Energy Security Analysis Inc. in Tilburg, the Netherlands. 'If it suffers the scope of damage caused to refineries in Louisiana by Katrina, we could see rationing and queues at the gas pump.'
"'We didn't have a surplus of refining before Katrina,' said Larry Goldstein, president of PIRA Energy Group, a New York consultant. 'There is basically no slack left in the system, and you don't have to have a Katrina-type impact to have a devastating impact on the industry right now.'"
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