(ZEROHEDGE) – One week ago, when virtually nobody was following the sudden surge in certain obscure mid-continent nat gas prices, we warned that the ripple effects of the freezing vortex-induced calamity, which led to near record-low temperatures across the plains states, would ripple far and wide sparking logistical and commodity shockwaves not only in Texas and the continental US, but also around the world. Sure enough, just a few days later, Texas has been hit by a humanitarian crisis the likes of which it has never before seen with millions of people without electricity and increasingly without running water.
And even though Texas is doing everything in its power to contain the fallout that, it appears that the crisis is now spreading, because as a result of the persistent freeze and rampant "force majeueres" across the industry, more than 4 million barrels a day of output – almost 40% of the nation’s crude production – is now offline, Bloomberg reports citing traders and executives.
This is because not only has Texas – one of the world’s biggest oil refining centers – seen output drastically cut back but the waterways that help U.S. oil flow to the rest of the world have been disrupted for much of the week. The country’s largest refiner, Motiva in Port Arthur, has closed and at least 3 million barrels a day of processing got taken offline.
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