U.S. crude oil production has plunged by as much as 40 percent due to the Polar Vortex that brought freezing temperatures to swathes of the United States, most notably including Texas, where wellheads and pipelines froze. Now, this is turning into a global problem. Bloomberg’s Alex Longley writes that according to estimates by Citi, the total lost U.S. production by early March could reach 16 million barrels. According to traders, however, the lost production could be twice as high. “The market is underestimating the amount of oil production lost in Texas due to the bad weather,” Ben Luckock, co-chief of oil trading at Trafigura, said as quoted by Bloomberg. And it’s not just lost oil production, either. Power outages led to the shutdown of several refineries in Texas, which removed an estimated 3 million bpd or more in refining capacity. “The Gulf Coast is a gasoline machine and sends […]