HURRICANE HARVEY IS COMING TO WIPE OUT 1/3rd OF US REFINING CAPACITY

I know it’s bit early in the season for Deacons of Death to come barreling down upon this great nation. But Harvey has a mind of its own — and he’s gunning for Texas — the land of the Mexican snowflake and 10 gallon hatted faggot.

Here's a look a Hurricane Harvey's potential impact on oil prices https://t.co/cs1LcQJpQJ pic.twitter.com/DyA68gxEFJ

— Bloomberg (@business) August 24, 2017

Inside Texas is a lot of tea, of the black tarry varietal. Most of this countries oil refining capacity resides there. Incidentally and coincidentally, a great big fucking hurricane is heading right for those refineries, which is helping out refinery stocks a great deal — as the crack spreads between gas and WTI blow out.

One third of US refining capacity is in the direct path of Harvey. Here is the map.

If Harvey upgrades to cat 3 status, it would become the first storm since 2008 to touch down in Texas. The culprit for the machinations of Harvey are likely due to DARPA meddling with water temperatures in the Gulf.

According to the National Hurricane Center, Harvey will lay waste to Texas, with winds sustaining 115mph and expected to dump a deluge of rain — anywhere form 12-20 inches.

“The main danger with this storm does not seem to be wind, it is the amount of rain and it looks set to stall over the Texas coast,” said Jacob Meisel, Bespoke Weather Services’ chief weather analyst. “This is something we’re watching even for onshore [drilling].”

Subsequently, NYMEX gas futures traded up 6 cents to $1.59 — the highest level since April. With WTI trading down 2.4%, this is pure profit for the soon to be embattled refiners.

“If it’s a Category 3, and it hits a refining center, you literally could have a gasoline price spike that is like 27 cents” a gallon, said “It’s a temporary event, but you could have a temporary price shock for portions of the United States that are fed by the Gulf Coast.”

Weather nerd Meisel warns:

“It has a straight shot at the coast with nothing but fuel to strengthen,” said Meisel. “The conditions are perfect for rapid intensification because of low wind shear and warmer than average water temperatures.”

“The amount of rain some of our weather models are printing out for this storm are totals that are almost unbelievable,” he said. “There’s definitely potential for more than 24 inches around the Houston area.”

The industry is preparing, as would be expected. Anadarko has pulled workers from their GOM platforms, as well as Magellan Midstream closing out operations at its Corpus Christi terminal.

According to Lipow, a cat 3 storm would  do enough damage to the installations in Texas and the Louisiana shore, it would take 2-3 weeks to get back to normal.

“There is more likely to be evacuations, widespread power outages, wind damage, flooding and difficulty getting workers back to the facilities,” he said.

“It could still be disruptive. You can’t have this magnitude of potential shut-ins without seeing prices go up,” said John Kilduff, energy analyst with Again Capital. “This could be a hiccup. It will be temporary, but it could be a hell of a spike.”

Meisel continues his wish casting:

“You’ll get really intense bands of rainfall that are really narrow. What you can get are pretty crazy totals of rainfall differences across a very small area. That’s where the main uncertainty lies right now.”

“We’re pretty convinced that the storm will make landfall in southern or coastal Texas,” he said. “…The question is where do those bands show up.”

Obviously, we’d like all people to escape the wrath of Harvey. We are, however, rooting for the complete and total destruction of the refining industry, located at and around the GOM — taking America back to the days of horse and buggy.