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Crude oil down nearly two dollars after Hurricane Ike
2008-09-14
NEW YORK (AFP) - Crude oil prices dropped nearly two dollars Sunday in New York, dipping to 99.30 dollars, as traders were reassured over Hurricane Ike's relatively limited effect on oil production in the US Gulf Coast region. At 12:15 local time (1615 GMT), a barrel of "light sweet crude" for delivery in October fell one dollar and 88 cents on the New York Mercantile Exchange, which was opened on Sunday due to the storm. Ike hit the Texas coast before dawn on Saturday, triggering widespread flooding but no extensive damage to oil rigs and refineries in the Houston region, initial reports suggested. The price of gasoline meanwhile rose 13.46 cents to 2.63 a gallon, with prices at pump stations about a dollar higher. Oil refineries in the storm-hit Houston area could be down for eight to nine days due to Ike, which could create possible gas shortages in the region, according to US Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas. To help meet the demand, President George W. Bush announced Saturday that restrictions on imported gasoline had been suspended. The government suspended Environmental Protection Agency waivers "on certain reformulated gasoline, which will make it easier for imports from abroad to make it into our markets," Bush said. In the meantime, federal and state officials "will be monitoring the gasoline prices to make sure consumers are not being gouged, to make sure consumers are being treated fairly," Bush said.
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