* Sandy lands just south of Atlantic City, New Jersey
* Storm forced two-thirds of U.S. East Coast refineries to shut
* Buzzard restart delayed for another few days
* Coming up: U.S. API weekly oil stocks at 2030 GMT
By Florence Tan
SINGAPORE, Oct 30 (Reuters) – Brent crude edged down near $109 a barrel on Tuesday as investors watched for any impact on markets from Hurricane Sandy, which crashed ashore on the U.S. East Coast, closing refineries, roads and airports.
Fuel supply into the region almost ground to a halt as Sandy, one of the bigggest storms ever to hit the United States, forced the closure of two-thirds of the region’s refineries, its biggest pipeline, and most major ports.
But the hurricane also prompted the closure of air, ship, rail and even highway services, and knocked out power to more than 2.8 million homes and businesses in the region.
Brent crude for December slipped for a second session, down 30 cents to $109.14 a barrel by 0141 GMT. U.S. crude for December edged down 16 cents to $85.38. U.S. gasoline futures fell 1.3 percent to $2.7206 a gallon, after climbing more than 5 cents on Monday.
Global markets were subdued on the closure of New York stock exchanges, while the storm affected both energy production and consumption.
“People can’t go out, they can’t use, they can’t consume,” said Jonathan Barratt, chief executive of Barratt’s Bulletin, a Sydney-based commodity research firm. “Crude inventories are running pretty high, 11-12 percent above a 5-year average.”
“The only area of concern is if the refineries are going to be knocked out for a period of time,” Barratt said, but added this would be a rare event as operators were prepared for the storm.
Sandy will close U.S. stock markets for a second day on Tuesday, as Wall Street turned its attention to whether markets would be able to resume functioning for the month’s final trading day on Wednesday.
The American Petroleum Institute said on Monday it has not delayed the release of its weekly petroleum stocks report yet, but it will continue to assess conditions.
Analysts, in a preliminary poll by Reuters, expect U.S. crude inventories to rise by 1.5 million barrels for the week ended Oct. 26.
Speculators have cut their net long positions in Brent crude oil and gasoil futures and options after three weeks of increases, data from the IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) showed, as an impending restart at Britain’s largest oilfield Buzzard cooled prices.
Yet, Buzzard’s restart has again slipped by a few more days from Monday and this could delay shipments. (Reporting by Florence Tan; Editing by Richard Pullin)
Source: Reuters
