Oil Prices Surge As Hurricane Rita Nears

[stevedeshazer]

Hang on to your wallet.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/21/AR2005092100926.html

<snip>

NEW YORK -- Crude-oil prices rose Wednesday as traders braced for the possibility that Hurricane Rita could smash into key oil facilities in Texas.

Workers fled oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico less than a month after Hurricane Katrina tore through the same region. Rita strengthened into a Category 5 hurricane late Wednesday with sustained winds of 165 mph, the National Hurricane Center said, and is likely to hit Texas, the heart of U.S. oil production.

<snip>

The U.S. Minerals Management Service said Wednesday that 469 platforms in the Gulf are unstaffed, up sharply from 136 on Tuesday. More than 73 percent of oil production in the region is blocked, up from 58 percent Tuesday. More than 47 percent of gasoline production, up from 35 percent, is also blocked.

"Some of those refineries in Texas, they're at sea level. It's a table top, it floods every easily," said Ed Silliere, vice president of risk management at Energy Merchant LLC in New York.
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[Earth_First]

1. How convenient...

price gouging anyone?

[acmejack]

2. Latest Prices

http://www.bloomberg.com/energy/

[HuffleClaw]

3. prices at the pumps are ALREADY rising...

...up here in CANADA.