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To: schrodingers_cat who wrote (49766)	9/23/2005 12:33:56 AM
From: schrodingers_cat	Respond to of 206118

Recent NG builds imply demand reduction and that is consistent with chemical plants being shut down and the feedstocks being added to gasoline instead. Another issue is that there are a lot of chemical plants between N.O. and Baton Rouge and possibly they are shut down due to Katrina. Quite likely, many can't afford to run at current NG prices. Ammonia (fertilizer) and methanol producers would be the worst affected. Shut down refineries also reduce NG demand. I think chemicals uses about 10% of the US NG supply, and shutting down part of that is the only practical way I can think of to rapidly reduce NG demand. Chemicals also consumes NG liquids like ethane and leaving that in the supply, like in winter 2000, will stretch supplies a little more. I suspect chemicals will start up again after a while as shortages of product drive prices up. The steel industry may also have reduced NG consumption, at a cost of reduced output, which could be made up by imports. We may also be stealing some LNG cargoes away from Europe, since there is quite a lot of spare LNG terminal capacity. That will stop when European NG prices rise.

To: schrodingers_cat who wrote (49766)	9/23/2005 12:47:33 AM
From: energyplay	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 206118

The US is importing so much motor gasoline from Europe the European prices have moved up. So gasoline inventories are up, but the production is in Europe.

To: schrodingers_cat who wrote (49766)	9/23/2005 1:05:26 AM
From: Elroy Jetson	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 206118

I can assure you that gasoline is being imported into the U.S. in large quantity after hurricane Katrina. Refinery inputs are down and so is production. It took a week or two, but when you're willing to pay $3 or $4 per gallon for gasoline, imports are available from so many places that you'd lose count. I'm not certain what you mean by Naptha. All of what a refinery calls "Naptha" can be sold as gasoline or reformulated gasoline meeting the most stringent environmental standards. The following refinery fractions are used in gasoline: (there are many more names but this covers the broad catgories) Straight Run Naphtha; Visbreaker/Coker Naphtha; Catalytic Reformate; Isomerate; FCC Gasoline; Alkylate. Directing refinery output to either petro-chemical feedstock or gasoline production is entirely optional, although some fractions like extra light Olefins have to go to petro-chemicals unless you change the molecules through alkylation -- in which case they have become an Alylate. .