Crude oil prices rose to near six-week highs on Monday as U.S. output remains slow to return two weeks after Hurricane Ida slammed into the Gulf Coast and worries another storm could affect output in Texas this week. This gives hope to Nigeria as its bulk of revenue comes from crude oil sales.
Those gains came even though the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries trimmed its world oil demand forecast for the last quarter of 2021 due to the Delta coronavirus variant. OPEC said a further recovery would be delayed until next year when consumption will exceed pre-pandemic rates.
Brent futures rose 53 cents, or 0.7%, to $73.45 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose 71 cents, or 1.0%, to $70.43. That puts Brent on track for its highest close since Aug. 3 and WTI on track for its highest close since July 30. “Hurricane Ida’s impact is lasting more than the market expected and as some oil production capacity remains shut this week, prices are rising on supply not being restored and therefore not reaching refineries that have restarted operations quicker than producers,” Nishant Bhushan, oil markets analyst at Rystad Energy.
Reuters
