-- At 11 a.m. EDT Sep 23, the center of Rita was 220 miles
southeast of Galveston, Texas, and moving northwest at 10 mph. "On
this track, the core of Rita will make landfall near the southwest
Louisiana and upper Texas coasts early Saturday," the National
Hurricane Center said in its latest advisory. Maximum sustained
winds had decreased to 135 mph, putting Rita on the border of a
category 4-category 3 storm.
-- Rita is shutting down a huge portion of the US' refining
capacity. Of the 21 refineries located between Corpus Christi,
Texas, and Lake Charles, Louisiana, 16 are confirmed to be closed or
in the process of closing. The 21 plants comprise 27.5% of the
country's total refining capacity. Another 5% remains out of service
due to the four large refineries in Louisiana and Mississippi still
shut in the wake of Katrina.
-- ConocoPhillips said on Sep 23 that it had completed the
shutdown of its refineries in Sweeny, Texas, and Lake Charles,
Louisiana.
-- London's International Petroleum Exchange plans to open
trading in its Brent and gasoil futures contracts from 2330 GMT on
Sep 24 as a result of the potential impact of Hurricane Rita, the
exchange said on Sep 23. On Sep 22, the New York Mercantile Exchange
announced energy contract trading on its electronic ACCESS trading
system will open early on Sep 25, at 10:00 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) due
to Rita.
-- A federal waiver has been granted to sell conventional
gasoline in the Dallas/Fort Worth area to help prevent fuel
shortages caused by the temporary shutdown of refineries and
terminals and the mandatory and voluntary evacuations in Texas'
coastal areas resulting from Hurricane Rita.
-- The International Energy Agency's chief said on Sep 23 the
impact of Rita would be discussed at an internal meeting at the
agency on Sep 24 but noted it was too early to decide if a further
release of emergency oil stocks is needed. The IEA released 60-mil
bbl of crude and products in the aftermath of Katrina.
-- Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman said Sep 22 that the US
would make SPR crude available "if it's appropriate" after Rita.
Bodman also told reporters in a briefing the there would likely be
some disruptions in fuel supplies in the Gulf Coast region and that
the US would be dependent on gasoline imports at least for the next
three weeks.
-- NYMEX on Sep 23 declared a force majeure on all remaining
delivery obligations in September natural gas futures contract,
citing Sabine Pipeline's on Sep 22 announcement that it had shut
down and called a force majeure as of 1 p.m. CDT (1800 GMT) Sep 22
ahead of Hurricane Rita. Sabine operates the Henry Hub gas facility
in Louisiana.
-- Williams' Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line on Sep 23 said
natural gas supply cuts have increased to 1.5 Bcf/d because of
producer shut-ins ahead of Hurricane Rita. The cuts are mainly in
the Southeast Louisiana area.
-- Despite Hurricane Rita's ferocity, two analysts on Sep 22
refuted suggestions that the storm could impact more US natural gas
production than did Hurricane Katrina. Daniel Lippe, president of
Houston-based Petral Worldwide, said Hurricane Rita, which is headed
toward the Texas-Louisiana border, "can't possibly put more at risk
than Katrina, which went through the heart of the producing area."
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fact sheet.
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