Hurricane season in the Atlantic reached its traditional peak yesterday (10th September). So far, four tropical storms have formed, with three becoming hurricanes but none so far have had any impact on oil and gas production in the US Gulf.
Since 1981, an average hurricane season has produced 12 named storms including six hurricanes and three major storms. The latest forecasts are that the number of storms is likely to remain low during the second half of the hurricane season.
However, its worth remembering that historically the most destructive storms occur during September and October. The risk of oil and natural gas prices spiking on hurricane disruption has fallen over the past few years due to the rising importance of onshore shale gas and oil output and greater preparedness by companies operating in the gulf.
Meanwhile oil and gas stocks in the US are comfortable heading into the autumn with Crude Oil stocks near a five-year high for the time of year and seasonally strong injections into Gas storage over the past few months.