Middle East Cyclone Will NOT Affect Oil Fields

By: Lowell
Published On: 6/7/2007 8:51:27 AM


Yes, this cyclone is passing near shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz, but there's absolutely no indication of any serious threat to oil fields, facilities, or shipping lanes.  In fact, all indications are that the storm is weakening and will not affect oil flows or prices.  Both Saudi Aramco and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company say that the storm will not affect their oil facilities.  At worst, we're talking about a few days of closure to Oman's main oil port, Mina al-Fahal.

Comments



No more storm (code - 6/7/2007 9:04:31 AM)
The thing fell apart last night after sucking on dry desert air for 2 days. So it's just a low pressure system now (25-30 mph winds).

So if anyone raises gas prices on this, I'm gonna punch them in the nose.



I was just responding to some of the (Lowell - 6/7/2007 9:10:26 AM)
hyperbole in the blogosphere.


Democrats and Oil Prices (uva08 - 6/7/2007 9:11:25 AM)
You know I am really surprised the Democrats haven't taken that much action on this issue.  Gas prices were unsubtly one of the issues that fueled voter unrest last year.  Now that they have investigatory powers why won't they investigate this and figure out what's going on.  Have they taken any action at all?


Natures "practice pitch" (hereinva - 6/7/2007 9:57:53 AM)
Given the potential for loss- should a major cyclone actually hit region, would consider it a blessing that nature spared the worst..and hopefully gave a loud and clear wake up call.

Apparently its been over 100 years since the region has had any significant cyclone activity and of course, much has changed in the now "geo-political" nerve center of the energy consuming world.



Couple of points... (ericy - 6/7/2007 10:06:36 AM)
Well, shipping through the area will probably have been suspended for about a week or so.

Oman also exports oil, and they bore the brunt of the storm.  Oman currently exports about 750,000 barrels of oil/day.

You may argue that theoildrum is engaging in hyperbole, but part of what they are trying to do is predict the amount of damage and the downtime for various facilities.  All of this is done with computer models - the same models that are used in the U.S. Gulf coast when a Hurricane comes through.  The latest results are:

Exclusive--Please credit The Oil Drum and Chuck Watson of KAC/UCF. KAC/UCF and Chuck Watson are forecasting, based on their damage models, that the Qalhat (Sur) LNG terminal will be out for 20-30 days and the Mina al Fahal oil terminal will be down for 10-20 days--all of this assuming they are built to US standards