Several oil refineries in Texas have been shut down temporarily as Harvey continues to ravage the southeastern part of the state.
Ten oil refinery plants around Houston and Corpus Christi are shutting down, according to a report by S&P Global Platts released Sunday.
Together these plants have the capacity to refine about 2.2 million barrels a day. Among the companies cited in the report as shutting down refineries are Exxon Mobil, Valero, Citgo, Shell, and Phillips 66.
Corpus Christi-area refineries were shut down ahead of the storm, while the Houston-area refineries were shut down Sunday because of flooding, according to S&P Global Platts.
The storm has, so far, shut down one-quarter of oil production from the Gulf of Mexico, according to multiple reports. Some analysts say this shutdown might offset excess US oil capacity and could temporarily push up oil and gasoline prices.
"In the near term, bank on higher oil and gasoline prices until refining facilities and other petroleum infrastructure are back in operation," said Greg McBride, the chief financial analyst at Bankrate.com. "After that, oil prices will settle back into the familiar $45-$50 range we've seen in recent months."
WTI crude oil, the US benchmark, was down 2.4%, at $51.40, at 10:26 a.m. ET. US gasoline futures, meanwhile, were up 5% early Monday after spiking by as much as 7%.
As of Monday morning, Harvey, which made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane, had been reclassified as a tropical storm with maximum winds of 40 mph, but Houston is preparing for as much as another 2 feet of rain in the coming days.
