Fill Up Your Gas Tanks

With Hurricane Gustav about to hit the coast, some analysts are saying that we may see $5 a gallon Gas.

A majority of the Gulf of Mexico’s oil production has been shut down in anticipation of Hurricane Gustav. CNN Money is reporting that 77% of oil output and 37% of natural gas production has been shut down in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Chicago Tribune is now reporting that if the damage is anywhere near what happened during Hurricane Katrina that we will likely see $5 a Gallon Gas. The Price of gas went from $2 to $3 a Gallon after Hurricanes Rita and Katrina destroyed more than 100 oil platforms and damaged a number of oil refineries.

To make matters even worse, there is a growing chance that Russia may restrict oil deliveries to Western Europe over next couple of days, in response to the threat of EU sanctions to the Georgia crisis. If this happens it could cause a major crisis and send oil to prices even higher.

The Daily Telegraph is reporting that Russian Oil Companies have been told to be ready to cut off supplies as soon as Monday.

Fill Up!!!!

UPDATE

In what seems like what is a bid to run up oil prices the New York Mercantile Exchange and Globex electronic trading system have extended trading hours for the first time to allow oil specualtors to make money off of this Crisis. Electronic trading will begin several hours early at 2:30 p.m. ET, instead of the normal 6 p.m. ET. If the storm doesn’t raise prices it looks like the speculators will.