The futures market has "solidly" anticipated the intensifying threat from Hurricane Harvey, commodities king Dennis Gartman told CNBC on Friday.
"This is going to be a short-term event," the Gartman Letter editor and founder said. "Obviously there are going to be repercussions. What has happened, however ... it's put downward pressure on crude oil, which is confusing a lot of people."
"But when you think about it, the demand for crude is going to decline. At the same time, refiners are going to be curtailed, so you're going to see a shortage of gasoline and distillate. Gasoline futures are strong. Distillate futures are strong. But they're only strong in the very near buys," he added in an interview on "Squawk Box."
He said beyond November and December gasoline and distillate prices will weaken. The storm "could be very serious. My guess is that it shan't be," he said.
Oil prices rose Friday as the U.S. petroleum industry braced for Hurricane Harvey, which was barreling thought the Gulf of Mexico and may become the biggest storm to hit the U.S. mainland in more than a decade.
The hurricane is expected to make landfall by early Saturday on the central Texas coast where Corpus Christi and Houston are home to some of the biggest U.S. refineries.
U.S. gasoline prices have risen since Wednesday, their highest since April as refiners shut down in preparation for the storm.
Gartman also said he hopes for " a very boring Friday" the Federal Reserve's monetary policy symposium at Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
U.S. stock index futures were slightly higher as investors anticipated remarks by Fed Chair Janet Yellen and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi.
"I hope as [Draghi] has said in the past week that he has no major announcements to be made. We expect to see something from Ms. Yellen. Probably some timetable as to the reduction of the Fed's balance sheet."
Yellen's speech could be her last as Fed chair at the annual gathering sponsored by the Kansas City Fed.
—Reuters contributed to this report.