Gasoline Supply May Fall `Substantially,’ Energy Official Says

(Bloomberg) — The Energy Department’s Sept. 24 inventory report may show that U.S. gasoline supplies fell 8.5 million barrels from a four-decade low as Texas refineries assess damage from Hurricane Ike, a department official said.

“Probably the max is an 8.5 million draw in gasoline because demand is down, and it could be as low as 6.5 million” barrels, John Duff, survey manager for the Energy Department’s weekly petroleum status report, said in an interview. The report will show “the real impact of the hurricane on the refining sector,” he said. Supplies will fall “substantially.”


Gasoline stockpiles dropped 3.31 million barrels to 184.6 million in the week ended Sept. 12 as the storm forced refineries with about 20 percent of the nation’s fuel-processing capacity to shut, the department’s weekly inventory report on Sept. 17 showed. Supplies were the lowest since November 1967, according to Jonathan Cogan, a department spokesman.

“That reporting period closed before Hurricane Ike hit and shortly after the refineries starting shutting down, so refineries only lost one-seventh of their operations during the week of Sept. 12,” Duff said.

Bloomberg