Mexican energy sector escapes Franklin more or less unscathed

Aug. 11 (UPI) -- Mexican refiners along the country's western coast were relatively spared as the remnants of Tropical Storm Franklin move out to sea, an industry report found.

Franklin bounced along the western Mexican coast this week, hitting the country twice as a Category 1 hurricane. According to the U.S. National Hurricane Center, Franklin is still producing strong thunderstorms offshore and could strengthen before moving to colder waters and weakening by Sunday.

According to the energy news service for Argus media, the storm forced several ports in the region to close. The largest, Doc Bocas, exported about 94 million barrels of crude oil and refined products for the first month of the year.

Argus reports no major disruptions or damage associated with the storm. Officials at Petróleos Mexicanos, the Mexican company known informally as Pemex, told Argus that exports weren't impacted by the storm because it had enough supplies on hand and from future deliveries to cover any short-term issues.

No other warnings were issued from the National Hurricane Center for the region. Two weak systems are brewing off the eastern coast of Florida and further out near the Caribbean Islands.

For retail gasoline prices, the largest one-month increase on record in the United States was Aug. 5 to Sept. 4, 2005, when prices jumped 75 cents largely because of Hurricane Katrina.

Mexico is the fourth largest crude oil exporter to the United States, sending about 652,000 barrels of oil per day north for the week ending Aug. 4.