Powerful Hurricane Ike bore down on the heart of the US oil sector in Texas today, idling production and threatening nearly a quarter of the United States' refining capacity with a possible 20-foot (6-meter) wall of water.
Fears the storm will cut deeply into already threadbare US fuel inventories by causing lasting damage to the cluster of refineries around Houston triggered a spike in wholesale gasoline prices on the Gulf Coast to $5 a gallon - an increase that could hit the gas pumps in coming days.
Forecasters said the storm, packing winds of more than 100 mph (160 kph), will likely hit near Houston early Saturday, after oil companies shut down about 25 percent of the nation's crude production and nearly 22 percent of its refined fuel output as a precaution.
US gasoline supplies are already running at their lowest levels in eight years, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration.
The last time hurricanes shut down as much crude oil and refining production in the United States was in 2005 when hurricanes Katrina and Rita ripped through the region and devastated swaths of the Gulf Coast.
Already, some 13 refineries in Texas were shut down as a precaution ahead of Ike, while another one in Louisiana was also shut in a slow recovery from Hurricane Gustav earlier in the month.
Together, the refineries account for 3.8 million barrels per day of gasoline, diesel and other fuel production, or about 22 per cent of the nation's capacity.
Ike also halted shipping and port operations along the Texas coast and led to the shutdown of several crude oil and fuel pipelines supplying other parts of the United States.
Offshore, oil companies shut more than 97 per cent of their Gulf of Mexico oil production and more than 94 per cent of their natural gas output, according to the latest data from the Minerals Management Service.
The Gulf is home to a quarter of US crude oil production and 15 per cent of US natural gas production.
Reuters