Refinery Explosion and Storm Fears Push RBOB Higher
The speculators jumped on the buying train as soon as trading opened Sunday evening and we saw RBOB jump to as high as 3.2050 (+.1250)before cooling off ahead of open outcry. The Explosion at the 650k bpd Amuay refinery in Venezuela is said to have caused at least 25 deaths and substantial damage to the surround area. With all the devastation, the unit is said to be back online by the end of the week. This facility is said to supply roughly 360 bpd of gasolines to the east coast. Additionally, the threat of Hurricane Isaac to the Gulf region has skyrocketed RBOB values. The storm, expected to make landfall sometime Tuesday evening, appears to be taking the same path as Rita and Katrina. This time however, it is much smaller in size and most offshore rigs have been evacuated and shutdown. The key to remember about storms is while it does take product off the market, it also reduces demand. The fact that HEAT finished marginally higher is a big win for Bears, considering it was up over .07 at one point. At the Close, Crude actually closed down .68 to $95.47, HO was up .0017 to $3.1118 and RBOB jumped .0768 to $3.1548.