Hurricane Ike Forecast Path Is Changed; Gulf Oil Platforms May Be Spared

[Purveyor]

Sept. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Hurricane Ike may spare the largest U.S. oil ports, Louisiana, and offshore platforms shut since Hurricane Gustav last week, forecasters said.

A high-pressure ridge across the Gulf of Mexico will direct Ike toward the west in about two days, and it will make landfall in about four days, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in a statement at 5 a.m. New York time.

The storm is headed toward southern Texas and may affect refineries in Corpus Christi that process about 586,000 barrels of crude oil a day, representing about 3.7 percent of U.S. refining capacity, according to Energy Department data.

``Even though it's headed toward the Corpus Christi area, the impact on the refining system as a whole will be small,'' Andy Lipow, president of Houston-based Lipow Oil Associates LLC, said in a telephone interview.

Flint Hills Resources LP, Citgo Petroleum Corp. and Valero Energy Corp. have refineries in Corpus Christi. They can process 288,126 barrels, 156,000 barrels and 142,000 barrels per day, respectively, according to Energy Department data.

Flint Hills spokeswoman Katie Stavinoha said the company is monitoring the storm and declined to say if rates would be reduced.

FIVE DAY FORECAST MAP


COMPUTER MODELS

[madrchsod]

1. the port of new orleans is what`s important this time of year

hundreds of millions of tons of commodities will be using the port in the next few months. a direct hit on the port would be devastating to world trade

[MadinMo]

2. The impact on the refining system as a whole will be small

Ah the power of prayer! :sarcasm:

[AuntPatsy]

3. Headed right for us...oh well, will go shopping tommorow...

[ben_meyers]

4. Once again the "experts" can't get it right and the media

over hypes the next "mother of all storms" It's going to get to the point were people in naturally hurricane prone areas aren't going to take these warnings seriously and then a big one will hit.