Why exactly did Oil Prices soar when hurricane Katrina took out new orleans?

Question

Did the UK not offer a substantial amount of financial aid to the US, only for the oil barons to tax higher in order to reclaim the lost resources to cover that debt?

And with the way that country rapes the planet of all its wealth i don't see why we gave them anything!

May i just point out, to the guy who made some sexist slur on this page that when i say rape, i mean as to destroy and strip something of its possesion, NOT to rape women. Whether this is an activity of the US Military or not is besides the point of this question.

Oh and to avatar20..

I drive a Prius due to london congestion fares, i have panels on the back of my roof for electricity and i am wired to a wind power provider for anything remotely intensive. The only thing i have need for oil for is my bike, which is pretty efficent.

I am not bitching about oil prices, i am just asking as to why such occurences coincided so fluidly! As has been answered by the torrents of answers posted to this thread.

Also, when did i complain about "the massive use of oil" that you have accused me of hypocritically winging about?

Answer 1

There are several oil pumps off of the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, and several refineries in Louisiana.

A lot of oil was lost; however, there already was a glut of oil that had been held back, to keep oil prices artificially high.

I remember a couple of months ago the news stated that there would be a glut of oil reserves by late November, and that oil prices would lower. However, oil prices have risen.

Sounds like a glut of gluttony to me...

Answer 2

Any event that traders on Wall Street view as a potential threat to supply, appears to them, as a profitable situation.
When one of these events occur, they buy buy buy, artificially pushing oil prices up, even when true demand isn't greater.

On top of that, any time a refinery may have been damaged, it is shut down for evaluating the damage. If this results in margins going up, you can bet they do the damage evaluation extra carefully, and extra slowly.

Answer 3

Because it took out the refinery's and the oil pipelines that take the refined oil around the country.

And by the way pal the UK has done a lot of "raping" of the planet itself with the whole colonization thing.Since the US is essentially the "offspring" of England, maybe you shouldn't be throwing stones.

Answer 4

Even without disasters, they are constantly fixing a supposedly broken pipes to decrease supply in order to increase oil prices. So imagine all the excuses they had after Katrina.

Answer 5

it did not have anything to do with New Orleans, but the path if travelled before hitting land.

A vast number of offshore oil rigs are located of the southern coast of the US of A.


Katrina came right thru the middle, making a number of them un-workable for a peroid.

causing a shortened supply of oil, hence making prices go up.

Simple really.

Answer 6

A major refinery is in the gulf coast. When they shut down, the supply becomes scarce.

Answer 7

Oil prices started climbing radically in 1998.

Answer 8

You amaze me, constantly bitching about the price of oil, which is the no. 1 deterrent to using oil, while complaining about the massive use of oil. What a conundrum for one so simple minded they cannot see the hypocrisy of what they say versus what they do. What do you drive?

Answer 9

So... Hurricane Katrina didnt take out New Orleans. Its still here, we're still here.

Answer 10

We buy oil from other countries, we REFINE it in the USA.
Guess where most of the refineries were!