Looking at the oil market over the past week, it would be hard to tell that the strongest hurricane in more than a century tore through the Gulf of Mexico before striking southwest Louisiana. Oil drillers shut in 84% of offshore crude output ahead of Hurricane Laura and refiners in the region halted a third of gasoline and diesel production. West Texas Intermediate crude futures started the week at $42.48 a barrel and are trading around $43 on Friday. Storms of this magnitude typically spur a run on gasoline, leading to a spike in retail prices. But Laura coincided with a demand-killing pandemic that has swollen gasoline and crude stockpiles to their highest for this time of year in data going back three decades. Pump prices in Louisiana, which bore the […]