Hurricane Sandy’s path of destruction could provide upward support for Atlantic clean products-tanker rates if east-coast refineries stay offline.

Some 1.17 million barrels per day of refinery capacity in the northeast was either shutdown or operating at reduced levels, according to a US Department of Energy report following Monday’s landfall.

Brokers and ship operators told TradeWinds that it was too early to say whether some of this capacity will remain offline for an extended period of time or return to normal relatively quickly.

However,