them on whether or not they re going to get their next paycheck. it all depends on whether or not this shutdown continues to drag on. meanwhile, in the state of louisiana, bobby jindal declared a state of emergency in light of this storm making landfall. it s expected to become a hurricane by possibly tomorrow night, which is also the time that it is potentially going to paycheck landfall in the gulf coast. a hurricane watch is in effect from grand isle in louisiana to indian pass in the florida panhandle. a much larger area has a tropical storm watch already in effect. now, this, of course, is oil country. bp was the first major oil company to announce that it was evacuating the workers that it considers to be nonessential, who are on the offshore production platforms that are in the path of this storm. other oil companies are expected to follow bp s suit. nobody knows exactly what s going to happen with this storm, when and if it s going to become a hurricane, when and if it s going
hurricane by possibly tomorrow night, which is also the time that it is potentially going to paycheck landfall in the gulf coast. a hurricane watch is in effect from grand isle in louisiana to indian pass in the florida panhandle. a much larger area has a tropical storm watch already in effect. now, this, of course, is oil country. bp was the first major oil company to announce that it was evacuating the workers that it considers to be nonessential, who are on the offshore production platforms that are in the path of this storm. other oil companies are expected to follow bp s suit. nobody knows exactly what s going to happen with this storm, when and if it s going to become a hurricane, when and if it s going to become a really big deal or where, exactly, but the experts, of course, on this stuff are the federal emergency management responders at fema. and right now, 86% of the full-time employees at fema are furloughed. at least that was the case until this afternoon when the states o
louisiana, bobby jindal declared a state of emergency in light of this storm making landfall. it s expected to become a hurricane by possibly tomorrow night, which is also the time that it is potentially going to that it is potentially going to landfall in the gulf coast. a hurricane watch is in effect from grand isle in louisiana to indian pass in the florida panhandle. a much larger area has a tropical storm watch already in effect. now, this, of course, is oil country. bp was the first major oil company to announce that it was evacuating the workers that it considers to be nonessential, who are on the offshore production platforms that are in the path of this storm. other oil companies are expected to follow bp s suit. nobody knows exactly what s going to happen with this storm, when and if it s going to become a hurricane, when and if it s going to become a really big deal or where, exactly, but the experts, of course, on this stuff are the federal emergency management responders a
all of us live from washington. peter, what can you tell us? the gulf accounts for 20% of total u.s. oil production and about 7% of natural gas. the government says that isaac has disrupted about 93% of oil and 67% of natural gas production. as for that critical refining capacity, the government estimates the storm has cut production by more than 900,000 barrels per day. about 12% of total capacity. all of this did send the prices a bit. but fortunately, isaak largely missed the production platforms so there has been little damage to them. and oil prices have actually come down on that news. news yesterday that crude inventories are actually much higher than expected. for now, analysts say that will lessen any need to tap the strategic petroleum reserve. just look at the market.
or click to learn more. [ male announcer ] if you can t afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. greta: will vice presidential candidate paul ryan energize the gop in wisconsin? governor scott walker is here in 60 seconds, but first our headline news. oil refineries down in the gulf are shutting down now. gasoline prices going up as tropical storm isaac barreling toward louisiana. tonight government officials informed us nearly 80% of the oil production in the gulf of mexico is now halted. companies evacuating hundreds of offshore oil and gas production platforms, and that means a loss of about a million barrels of crude per day until the storm threat is over. on monday, fear of a reduced gas supply sent the average cost for a gallon of regular gasoline up to $3.75. it could hit $3.80 by labor day. tropical storm isaac is also slowing down natural gas production, but analysts tell us