Post Sandy

Petroleum data for the week ending November 9 released today by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) provide the second set of data to assess the impacts of Hurricane Sandy on U.S. petroleum markets. The storm significantly disrupted electricity, natural gas, and petroleum product supply infrastructure in the Northeast and affected millions of consumers. However, the data from the first week following Hurricane Sandy showed falling gasoline inventories in the Northeast Petroleum Administration for Defense Districts (PADDs 1A and 1B) including the New England states, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, the region hit hardest by the storm (Figure 1), as reduced gasoline deliveries into the region and a drop in refinery production were likely partially offset by reduced demand. These data indicate that aggregate supplies of physical products across the broader Northeast region have been less of a problem than disruptions due to damage to terminals, ports, and pipelines serving the New York metropolitan area. These disruptions have especially stressed supply chains between the wholesale and retail