Summary

NAME: US OIL2 300805N TAPE: EF05/0774 IN_TIME: 10:00:09:00 DURATION: 00:02:50:08 SOURCES: APTN/NYSE DATELINE: Various - 30 Aug 2005/File RESTRICTIONS: SHOTLIST: APTN New York - August 30, 2005 1. Various of oil traders 2. SOUNDBITE (English): Ira Eckstein, Area International Trading Corp.: "The atmosphere, as you know, we don''t like unknown, so, you know, when we hear about workers abandoning platforms and damage out in the Gulf (of Mexico), first of all we can''t get oil coming in from shipments, and we can''t refine any oil, and we don''t know the damage. So, yeah, I''ve never seen anything like this. And especially the gasoline, it opened up trading two-forty, we gapped almost forty cents higher, I''ve never seen that in my whole career. You know, crude oil, seventy dollars and eighty-five cents, these are all fresh, new highs. Very, very active." 3. Various of petrol station showing high prices 4. SOUNDBITE (English): Ira Eckstein, Area International Trading Corp.: "Well, twenty-five cent limit is a very big limit in spot month, and to over that limit and lock limit is a very big move, and then to trade fifteen cents higher after it was lock limit up, it''s huge." FILE - dates and location unknown 5. Various oil facilities August 30, 2005 - New York 6. Wide shot press conference 7. SOUNDBITE (English): US Senator Charles Schumer, Democrat, New York: "So it''s putting a creal crimp on people''s lives, putting a real crimp on the economy, if there was ever a time to use the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, it is now." FILE - date and location unknown 8. Wide shot pan oil facility Slidell, Louisiana - August 30, 2005 9. Close-up Chevron logo, zoom out to show oil tank which had floated onto a highway NYSE New York - August 30, 2005 10. Mid shot of ringing of the NYSE closing bell 11. Wide shot pan floor of NYSE STORYLINE: The shutdown of oil platforms, refineries and pipelines along the Gulf of Mexico coast drove energy prices to new highs Tuesday. Oil prices briefly jumped above 70 dollars (US) a barrel. The trading frenzy on futures markets reflected uncertainty and fear about the full extent of the damage Hurricane Katrina inflicted on key energy infrastructure, as well as the constraints being felt where actual shipments of gasoline (petrol), heating oil and jet fuel are bought and sold. Analysts said that even if Katrina did less harm than feared its effects would nevertheless tighten the availability of already scarce refined products, such as heating oil and gasoline. In wholesale markets on the Gulf Coast, some gasoline was being priced as high as 2.85 US dollars a gallon and in the Midwest, prices were as high as 2.65 US dollars a gallon. Retail costs are typically 60 cents higher, meaning motorists in these regions could very well see pump prices in some markets exceed 3 US dollars a gallon (78 cents a litre). Light sweet crude for October delivery rose $2.15 to $69.35 a barrel by afternoon on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices had reached as high as $70.85, a new high on Nymex, although still below the inflation-adjusted high of about $90 a barrel that was set in 1980. September gasoline futures rose 29.94 cents, or 14.5 percent, to $2.36 a gallon on Nymex, where trading was halted briefly after the exchange''s 25-cent trading limit was reached. Heating oil futures climbed by 12.12 cents to $2.03 a gallon. Natural gas futures raced higher as well. Natural gas for October delivery traded at $11.75 per 1,000 cubic feet, an increase of 61.1 cents. Analysts believe that the operations of natural gas processors and chemical manufacturers, who depend heavily on the natural gas as a feedstock, could be disrupted for days, if not weeks. The run-up in natural gas and heating oil futures may mean sharply higher home-heating bills lie ahead this winter. In addition to refineries and oil platforms, critical infrastructure that remained out of service included: - the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, the largest oil import terminal in the United States. - the Colonial Pipeline, which transports refined products such as gasoline, heating oil and jet fuel from Houston to markets as far away as the Northeast. - the Plantation Pipe Line, which transports fuel from refineries in Mississippi and Louisiana to consuming markets as far away as northern Virginia. - the Capline pipeline system, which transports crude oil from the Gulf to the Midwest. Companies are scrambling to assess damage to their platforms, pipelines and refineries - a task easier said than done in some cases because, in addition to flooding, the Gulf Coast has been plagued by power outages. Most energy companies still have not been able to visit their facilities and are relying on aerial surveillance for preliminary examinations. Nymex oil futures settled at $67.20 a barrel Monday, easing from highs above $70 a barrel amid speculation that the Bush administration might loan crude from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve to refiners that request it. But some analysts on Tuesday said the impact of such a move would be minimal. At least eight Gulf Coast refineries in the path of Hurricane Katrina shut down or reduced operations, taking out anywhere from 8-10 percent of production capacity, according to company and federal reports. Katrina, which struck the Gulf Coast as a Category 4 storm, was blamed for up to 80 deaths and the evacuation of more than 700 offshore platforms and rigs. It slammed into a major oil production hub at a time when producers worldwide were already struggling to cope. Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Secretary-General Adnan Shihab-Eldin reiterated Tuesday that the group will supply extra barrels of crude oil to refiners if they want them. Previous OPEC pledges have done little to ease market fears over supply. The US Minerals Management Service said Monday that 92 percent of the region''s oil output was out of service, with more than three million barrels of production lost since Friday. The agency said 83 percent of natural gas output was shut down, resulting in a loss of 15.5 (b) billion cubic feet of lost production since Friday. The Gulf of Mexico normally produces two (m) million barrels of crude oil a day and about 10 (b) billion cubic feet a day of natural gas. The crisis draws attention to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the nation''s emergency supply of 700 (m) million barrels of crude oil buried in salt caverns in Texas and Louisiana. US President Bush is expected to authorize the release of just enough oil from the reserve to help make up for production losses directly related to the powerful storm - with a stipulation that the oil later be replaced by oil companies with an even larger quantity. With gasoline prices nearing or surpassing $3 a gallon in many areas, some lawmakers want the president to go further and open the stockpile''s spigots to help drive down prices. The administration contends that would defeat the purpose of the reserve, which is to protect the nation against supply disruptions like the Arab oil embargoes of the 1970s. Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat and leading advocate of aggressively tapping the reserve, disagrees. KEYWORD - HURRICANE KATRINA