Another storm threat is upon the Gulf of Mexico.
The National Hurricane Center has Rita traversing
the Gulf of Mexico towards the Texas coast with a Northerly turn
to the NW at the end. While this is very early on
in the forecast a threat to the NW Gulf of Mexico
could cause more oil rigs to be abandoned for the
safety of oil rig workers. That alone will slow
down production. If a major hurricane actually
hits the NW Gulf of Mexico we would be looking at
a significant climb in gas prices. This graphic (from Katrina) offers a look at where all the
oil rigs are in the Gulf. Unfortunately, many
of them will be evacauted if Rita moves across the
Gulf of Mexico. Oil has already jumped in price over $3 this morning because of the threat that Rita poses to oil rigs in the gulf.
