Bush Warns Gasoline Retailers As US Scrambles for Fuel
Posted on: Friday, 2 September 2005, 09:00 CDT
PRESIDENT George W Bush warned gasoline retailers not to gouge fuel-starved motorists yesterday as the price of petrol soared to dollars-100 a barrel.
Crude prices, meanwhile, hovered near dollars-69 a barrel, off recent record levels, as the United States scrambled to replace fuel supplies lost when Hurricane Katrina slammed into Gulf of Mexico rigs and refineries.
Bush told Americans he expected close ally Saudi Arabia to supply the US with more oil.
America has big supplies of crude in its strategic stockpile and has offered to provide some of it to refiners, but the gesture does nothing to address an immediate shortage of motor vehicle fuel. European operators dashed to charter ships to the US coast to take advantage of sky-high prices.
Some economists said they were shocked by how illprepared the world's biggest economy was for Hurricane Katrina's rampage.
"Hurricane Katrina has been an eye opener, highlighting the inadequacy of the global refining system, " said Merrill Lynch.
Tom Hougaard, chief market strategist at City Index, a spread- betting firm, was even more blunt about the economic impact of the hurricane.
"With all due respect to the 3000 who lost their lives in the World Trade Center, I am afraid that from just a financial standpoint, the Katrina disaster to New Orleans and the surrounding country will make the World Trade Center look like two backyard sheds being knocked down.
"Sometime soon the financial markets will wake up to the fact that thousands of homes and business-structures on the (Gulf coast) are probably worthless - they will cost more to repair than to raze and rebuild, and they are probably not insured."
Meanwhile, the European Central Bank raised its inflation forecasts for this year and next, noting soaring oil prices were pushing up the cost of goods and services. The ECB raised its projection for the crude price by dollars-12 to dollars-62.80 a barrel in 2006.
US crude closed 53 cents higher at dollars-69.47 a barrel, below the record dollars-70.85 hit on Tuesday. London Brent crude gained 23 cents to dollars-67.25 a barrel.
Source: Herald, The; Glasgow (UK)
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