Oil Price: Did the Gustav damage the Loop? - The Oil Drum

All in all, my thinking is that this could have been a lot worse. Storm was disorganized crossing the OCS, so waves and storm surge will be lower than they should be for a storm of this size and intensity. - Prof Goose at The Oil Drum

NVDL: I also suggested that Fay's drenching of the northern Gulf would probably have cooled the area in advance of Gustav's arrival, making Gustav a more benign beast than he might have been

clipped from www.theoildrum.com Well, I think someone (who out of modesty shall remain nameless) forecast several days ago, Gustav would hit unfavorable conditions in the northern Gulf and never make it back to mega-storm strength. That seems to be the case. Center landfall with peak winds of 100kts or maybe slightly less looks to be at Grand Isle, at 8am ET - as of 730et the "eyewall" appears to be touching land. I'm mostly sticking with the synthesis from last night (based on multiple models) as to impacts, and we're now in a "wait and see what the inspections bring" mode. The big question is what if any major damage the LOOP suffered and (perhaps more vulnerable than the LOOP itself) the connection pipelines to shore. Baseline estimate is 10-14 days for the port itself. Radar shot (7:30am ET) with tracks and LOOP labeled attached. We expect a long-term hit of 3% or so since this swath went through some areas that Ivan, Katrina, and Rita missed and some older, less productive wells will not be restored.