Hurricane Isaisas will head into the Gulf of Mexico. “The impact can come at the worst moment.”

Expert warns: A hurricane may strike at the worst moment

U.S. refineries are racing to compensate for shortages caused by the war in the Middle East, and the nation's strategic crude oil reserves have fallen to their lowest levels since 1982.

Therefore, the impact of Hurricane Isaias may occur at the worst moment in 25 years, said analyst Robert Yawger in an interview with CNN.

However, the hurricane's actual impact will depend on its path and strength. According to forecasts from Thursday to Friday, the element will hit east of New Orleans - a key refinery center. This should protect the most important energy infrastructure against the strongest effects of the disaster.

In turn, large oil companies (Shell, Chevron and BP) preventively evacuated some staff from drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico and limited production.

According to Andy Lipow, president of the oil company Lipow Oil Associates, refineries located in the forecast path of the hurricane are responsible for 14 percent of the processing capacity of the US refining sector. Lipow also predicts that at least some plants will have to reduce the rate of processing crude oil into gasoline, diesel oil and aviation fuel.

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CNN emphasizes that there are no reserves in the system that would compensate for the loss of processing capacity. "Distillate stocks - mainly diesel fuel - have reached their lowest level since data monitoring began in the early 1980s," reports the American station.

Moreover, in order to mitigate the energy shock, the United States has recently made intensive use of strategic oil reserves and currently has a reserve of approximately 280 million barrels.

"This is the lowest since 1982," CNN emphasized.