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Hurricane Harvey, the most powerful storm in over a decade to hit the US, slammed into the Texas coast on Friday. Harvey's targets included Corpus Christ and Houston, home to some of the biggest oil refineries in the country, resulting in a surge in gasoline prices.
The prospect of supply interruptions sent gasoline futures to 1.74 US dollars a gallon, their highest level since April, before retreating to around 1.67 dollars by Friday afternoon.
More than 45 percent of the country's refining capacity is along the US Gulf Coast, and nearly a fifth of the nation's crude oil is produced offshore.
Several refineries at greatest risk of suffering a direct strike from high winds have already shut down, but it is the potential for flooding in the Houston and Beaumont, Texas areas that could really pinch gasoline supplies.
Ports from Corpus Christi to Texas City, Texas, were closed to incoming vessels. Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Anadarko Petroleum Corp, Exxon Mobil Corp and others have evacuated staff from offshore oil and gas platforms.
Gasoline stations on the south Texas coast were running out of fuel as thousands of residents fled the region.
The US government said it would make emergency stockpiles of crude available if needed to plug disruptions. It has regularly used them to dampen the impact of previous storms on energy supplies.
Other industries from air travel to utilities are also seeing the impact of the first major hurricane.
Strong winds batter seaside houses before the approaching Hurricane Harvey in Corpus Christi, Texas on August 25, 2017. /VCG Photo
Trump faces first large-scale disaster during his presidency
The storm poses one of the most challenging tests for President Donald Trump and his young administration.
Some of the agencies tasked with handling the administration’s response are in the midst of turnover, as Elaine Duke is leading the Department of Homeland Security in an acting role after John Kelly became Trump’s chief of staff.
Trump’s nominee to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Brock Long, was confirmed in June, but numerous major positions in the agency remain unfilled or are occupied by acting employees.
FEMA owes the Treasury about 23 billion dollars in funds borrowed to cover the cost of past disasters, according to a recent report by the US Government Accountability Office.
In a column for The Washington Post earlier this month, Ron Klain, who served as chief of staff for vice presidents Al Gore and Joe Biden, said August could be extremely dangerous for Trump and the administration, highlighting the threat of a major hurricane as a top reason.
"Would the Trump administration respond effectively?” he asked.
“The president just stripped the Department of Homeland Security of its leader, was blasted by the outgoing head of hurricane forecasting for how his budget cuts could set back this work, and lacks any experience (as a senator or governor) with navigating a difficult disaster response. As a political matter, a botched hurricane response in the Gulf Coast or Florida would see Trump criticized – not by blue-state leaders he can mock or ignore – but by key members of his own coalition," he added.
(CGTN)
