Oil and Gasoline Dip With Refineries Spared From Worst of Laura
- Plants such as Exxon Baytown are already in restart process
- Stronger dollar on Thursday is adding pressure on oil futures
A gas flare at the Phillips 66 oil refinery ahead of Hurricane Laura in Lake Charles, Louisiana, U.S., on Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2020.
Photographer: Bryan Tarnowski/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Oil declined after Laura barreled into Louisiana, largely sparing the Texas Gulf Coast from widespread disruption to key energy infrastructure.
Laura made landfall early Thursday near Cameron, Louisiana, as a Category 4 hurricane and has now weakened to a tropical storm. While the storm knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people and impacted plants that produce chemicals and liquefied natural gas, southeast Texas ports and refineries -- including the largest U.S. refinery -- likely avoided the worst of it.