On Tuesday, oil prices crashed to a six-week high as Hurricane Nicholas failed into a tropical storm, bringing the menace of widespread floods and power outages to Texas and Louisiana. As the International Energy Agency projected a significant demand rebound for the rest of the year.
Brent crude was higher 44 cents, or 0.6%, at $73.95 per barrel by 1114 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 41 cents, or 0.6%, to $70.86 per barrel.
Both contracts have increased for three continuous sessions and have been trading near their highest after early August.
Nicholas is the second major storm to approach the U.S. Gulf region in recent weeks. Evacuations continued to originate on Monday from offshore oil floors as coastal oil refiners started preparing for Nicholas.
Commerzbank (DE: CBKG) said that the significant production interruptions in the Gulf of Mexico continue one of the factors driving prices.
Around 794,000 barrels per day (bpd), or higher than 40% of the U.S. Gulf’s oil and gas production, remained offline on Monday, two weeks following Ida crashed into the Louisiana coast, as stated by offshore regulator Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE).
After three months of drop in global oil demand, coronavirus vaccine roll-outs are established to rekindle the desire for the oil contained by epidemic restrictions, particularly in Asia, the International Energy Agency (IEA) stated on Tuesday.
The U.S. selling crude oil
The IEA marks a 1.6 million bpd demand rebound in October and stretching to grow until the end of the year.
Altogether, the agency decreased its 2021 global oil demand increase above 105,000 bpd to 5.2 million bpd, increasing its 2022 figure by 85,000 bpd to 3.2 million bpd.
These forecasts are well under those of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which equals demand growing by around 5.96 million bpd this year and 4.15 million bpd next year.
The National Oil Corporation (NOC) media office and an engineer at the port stated that the demonstrators clogged an oil tanker from piling at the Libyan terminus of Es Sider on Tuesday.
The U.S. government allowed to sell crude oil from the nation’s emergency reserve to eight businesses, including Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) and Chevron (NYSE: CVX), under a listed auction to gather money for the federal budget.
Traders regarded China’s planned statement of oil from strategic petroleum reserves (SPRs) could expand supplies ready in the world’s second-biggest oil user.
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