Week in Review – Sept 10, 2021

This week saw major headlines for oil markets as Hurricane Ida efforts continue in much of Louisiana and Mississippi where power is still out for over 300,000 people. With refineries out and COVID-19 cases around the country continuing to increase, oil supply and demand have been clouded and look to remain that way for the foreseeable future.

Louisiana and Mississippi continue to suffer from major outages that are leaving thousands without power. The main safety issue that recovery teams are facing are underwater power lines in major cities such as New Orleans, making power restoration more difficult. With the loss of power comes refinery operational shutdowns, causing a longer recovery process than many thought originally. With 31,000 electric poles down, Ida’s power outages have exceeded the combined impacts of Katrina, Ike, Delta, and Zeta.

COVID-19 also made headlines this week: the Biden Administration announced plans t to both stop the spread of the variant and boost vaccines around the globe. Biden is calling for leaders around the world to meet at a summit to discuss future plans. This call to action comes as pressure is ramping up on the president and public health continues to worsen, with average deaths from the virus in a seven-day period totaling 1,524 compared to 509 a month ago.

Prices in Review

WTI Crude opened the week at $69.11. Prices were volatile this week with crude bouncing up and down throughout the week, including a major drop off from Thursday to Friday. Friday opened at $67.97, a decrease of $1.14 from Monday.

Diesel opened the week at $2.1546. Similar to crude, diesel experienced volaility this week. It opened Friday at $2.1105 a decrease of $0.0441 from Monday.

Gasoline opened the week at $2.1550. Price decreased steadily until Thursday when they spiked again, followed by a fall this morning. Gasoline opened Friday at $2.1029, a decrease of $0.0521.