houston monster hurricane irma shut oil terminals across northern caribbean worsen fuel supply crunch latin america struggle meet demand since hurricane harvey disrupt shipments u.s. gulf coast last month latin america scramble almost two weeks find oil cargoes harvey cause massive flood texas louisiana shut port refineries production platforms irma follow two hurricanes atlantic gulf mexico affect caribbean refineries terminals storage facilities u.s. national hurricane center say irma strong hurricane ever record atlantic ocean one five forceful storm hit atlantic basin 82 years caribbean capacity store 100 million barrel crucial nations limit ability refine crude also supply south american nations include brazil venezuela colombia several oil trade firm move portion u.s. fuel inventory caribbean ahead harvey could keep sell cargoes latin america traders two company tell reuters barrel lock terminals st. eustatius puerto rico bahamas u.s. virgin islands irma category storm wind 185 mph 295 kph expect hammer region several days move west-northwest irma arrive bad moment oil storage facilities caribbean close vessel traffic difficult middle storm get bad get good say trader oil firm rent tank st. croix buckeye partner lp bpl.n large owner oil storage facilities caribbean 41.1 million barrel capacity shut puerto rico terminal wednesday also plan close borco large terminal bahamas store 26.2 million barrel end day thursday source familiar terminal operations say also bahamas statoil stl.ol south rid point terminal open thursday company say traders add plan halt marine operations would likely start late thursday nustar energy lp ns.n tuesday close 13-million-barrel statia terminal small island st. eustatius say several tank equipment damage hurricane restart date set firm use tank close terminals st. eustatius st. croix bahamas puerto rico include traders vitol glencore glen.l novum energy freepoint commodities oil firm pdvsa venezuela china sinopec 600028.ss russia rosneft rosn.mm lukoil lkoh.mm u.s. chevron corp cvx.n royal dutch shell plc rdsa.l accord source reuters vessel data traders worry irma impact inventory others see longer-term potential consequences storm jose atlantic ocean katia mexico coast continue move thursday strengthen hurricanes hurricane irma intensity strike terminal tank farm force storm eye wall destructive impact storage tank typically design withstand force say ernie barsamian chief executive officer tank tiger terminal storage clearinghouse mexican state-run oil company pemex say thursday facilities hit far keep monitor katia path decide action need fuel importers mexico brazil secure supply recent days u.s. east coast europe caribbean accord traders regulators oil firm options run short amid grow regional demand limit offer texas refiners port slow reopen large vessels option traders see desperate buyers come days divert fuel cargoes countries brazil buy diesel excess venezuela pay fuel float near port country fiscal problems least three fuel cargoes divert venezuela since last week accord reuters data change destinations panama likely pass canal discharge south america company uruguay ecuador peru costa rica seek spot cargoes diesel gasoline aviation gasoline asphalt components open market providers will participate traders say use inventory caribbean moment supply third party one trader say dominican republic refine firm refidomsa declare force majeure last week deliveries ration fuel 34,000-barrel-per-day haina refinery give enough inventory 20 days caribbean refineries dependent u.s. light oil since large regional crude producers mexico venezuela cut export neighbor hurricane irma worsen latin america 's fuel supply crunch