Crude oil slid and gasoline futures hit their highest since mid-2015 on Wednesday as flooding and damage from Tropical Storm Harvey shut about a fifth of U.S. refineries, curbing demand for crude while raising the risk of fuel shortages.
Goldman Sachs said refineries with output of 4.1 million barrels per day (bpd) were offline on Tuesday, representing 23% of U.S. production. Restarting plants -- even under the best conditions -- can take a week or more.
Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for crude trading, was down 40 cents, or 0.8%, at $51.60 U.S. a barrel mid-morning Wednesday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 24 cents to $46.20 U.S.
Figures released Wednesday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed U.S. commercial crude inventories fell by 5.4 million barrels to a total of 457.8 million barrels in the week through August 25, contrary to predictions for a decrease of 1.9 million barrels.
Gasoline stocks rose by 35,000 barrels, compared with analysts' expectations in an economist poll for a one-million-barrel drop.
EIA also said that distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, were up by 748,000 barrels, versus expectations for a 846,000-barrel decline.
Goldman added that, in addition to shutting oil refineries, about 1.4 million bpd of U.S. crude production has been disrupted, equivalent to 15% of total output.
