Oil prices fell on Friday in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, which has killed more than 40 people and brought record flooding to the oil heartland of Texas, paralyzing over a quarter of the U.S. refining industry. Harvey, downgraded to a tropical storm and losing steam as it moved inland, shut at least 4.4 million barrels per day (bpd) of refining capacity, according to company reports and Reuters estimates. That sparked fears of a fuel shortage ahead of the Labor Day weekend, and cut refinery demand for crude oil, widening the spread between oil products and crude, particularly between U.S. gasoline RBc1 and light crude CLc1. This gasoline “crack spread” hit a high of $27.79 a barrel on Friday, up $10 in a week. “The hurricane will affect refining more than […]