A year ago today, New Orleans was inundated by floodwater, and oil refineries on the Gulf coast and rigs and platforms offshore were shut and damaged after the assault of hurricane Katrina, one of a record 15 hurricanes and 28 named storms that year in the Atlantic Basin. There were four highest-level category 5 hurricanes in the Atlantic Basin in 2005 — Emily, Katrina, Rita, and Wilma — and Wilma, Rita and Katrina were the most intense and third and fourth most intense ever. Emily, which developed in mid-July, was the earliest category 5 hurricane in history, and by this time last year a record five hurricanes had emerged. Another five, including hurricane Rita, which slammed into the Texas oil refining coast, blew in in September.


Oil supplies were already stretched by strong global demand when the Atlantic hurricanes began to roar in 2005, and the oil price soared as they multiplied. Between mid-July and the end of August, the price of West Texas Intermediate crude leapt from $US54.93 a barrel to $US69.81 a barrel. It fell in September as OPEC nations stepped up production in response to shutdowns in the Gulf, and the hurricane-assisted price of late August was not reached again until April this year, when Nigerian oil supplies faltered and tensions about Iran and the Middle East grew. The oil price peak of just over $US77 occurred in July, as concerns about Iran's nuclear plans and the West's response mounted, and as America's hurricane season began.

Oil is still historically high today, but it is 10 per cent lower, at $US69.85, and climatic calm is a key reason.