Harvey

The devastation from Hurricane Harvey will be difficult to overcome, but the energy industry is making an effort to ease the pain by donating money and time to relief efforts along the Gulf Coast.

Hurricane Harvey’s demand-killing impact on the natural gas market has been apparent since the Category 4 storm made landfall across the Texas coast late Friday, but things could turn decidedly more bullish — albeit temporarily — in the days to come as demand begins to creep higher while production remains offline, some analysts say.

The expiring September natural gas futures are expected to open 2 cents higher Tuesday morning at $2.94 as traders turn their attention more to Harvey-driven supply disruption than falling demand. Overnight oil markets gained.

Horrible Harvey, which stormed into South Texas as a Category 4 storm Friday night, is continuing to wreak havoc along the Gulf Coast, with catastrophic rainfall disrupting lives and shuttering the energy breadbasket of the United States. The storm was expected to continue battering the coast through much of the week, leaving the Houston-Galveston region swimming in more than four feet of accumulated rainfall.

Harvey, downgraded to a tropical storm after barreling into South Texas as a Category 4 hurricane Friday night, continued to rain destruction on the Gulf Coast Monday, with catastrophic downpours disrupting lives and shuttering the energy breadbasket of the United States. The storm was expected to continue battering the coast through much of the week, leaving the Houston-Galveston region swimming in more than four feet of accumulated rainfall.

September natural gas is expected to open 2 cents lower Friday morning at $2.93 as traders view the impact of Hurricane Harvey largely as one of limiting demand. Overnight oil markets rose.

Hurricane Harvey was ready to strike the Texas coast late Friday at catastrophic Category 3 status, with sustained winds of 125 mph, with higher gusts, on course to deluge a huge swath of the state over several days, with an unprecedented 16 inches to nearly three feet of rainfall, a devastating storm surge and massive flooding.

September natural gas is set to open 2 cents higher Thursday morning at $2.95 as traders balance the disruptive effects of Gulf tropical activity with forecasts of moderating temperatures in key markets. Overnight oil markets were mixed.

ExxonMobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell plc and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. had curbed natural gas and oil production at facilities in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) as Hurricane Harvey was intensifying Thursday, bearing down on the Texas coast.