Hurricane Irene aftermath

Just spending some healing time looking over the markets here today. I was curious why US consumers were being screwed by Big Oil overnight with gasoline prices on the MYMEX rose so suddenly in the wake of Hurricane Irene, and why some Canadian consumers are also experiencing a spike in prices.

All totally unjustified, as it turns out.

Only one refinery faced a shutdown during the hurricane event, and that was a controlled shutdown. In spite of that, there appears to be no major damage and the refineries are all operating normally. The exception to all this was the Connoco Phillips Bayside refinery in New Jersey that faced the shutdown. With a daily output of 238,000 barrels per day, it wouldn't make that much of a smack in the availability of product to consumers.

There has to be someone in the US that should be able to bring some of these speculators to task for putting the thumb-screws to consumers immediately before the Labour Day holiday.

Here in Canada, while spot prices aren't showing an increase to Newfoundland and Labrador consumers, the writing may be on the wall for us next week, if we don't see the markets retreat from the spike in prices. Cash petroleum prices rose from Monday's $2.74 a US gallon to Tuesday's $2.97 US a gallon, a 23 cent increase overnight.

Sometimes, it's just not all that rosy being tied into the New York Mercantile Exchange.

I'll be in touch!

George