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A sticker indicates crude oil on the side of a storage tank in the Permian Basin in Mentone, Loving County, Texas, United States, November 22, 2019. REUTERS / Angus Mordant
SINGAPORE, Sept. 15 (Reuters) – Oil prices soared on Wednesday after industry data showed a larger-than-expected drop in crude oil inventories in the United States, the world’s largest consumer of oil, and on expectations for a recovery in demand as vaccine deployment expands.
Brent crude oil rose 39 cents, or 0.5%, to $ 73.99 a barrel at 0133 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude climbed 44 cents, or 0.5%, at $ 70.90 per barrel.
U.S. stocks of crude oil, gasoline and distillate all fell last week, according to two market sources, citing figures from the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday, after Hurricane Ida shut down many refineries and production. offshore drilling.
Crude inventories fell 5.4 million barrels for the week ended September 10. Analysts on average expected a drop of 3.5 million barrels.
“The impact of Hurricane Ida was much larger than expected and production in the Gulf of Mexico region may struggle to return until Tropical Storm Nicholas finishes punishing the region with rains. torrential, ”said Edward Moya, senior analyst at OANDA.
Tropical Storm Nicholas slowly moved across the Gulf Coast on Tuesday, flooding states of Texas and Louisiana with torrential rains, flooding streets and leaving hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses without power. Read more
Texas refineries continued to operate normally, despite flooding and power outages. Read more
The damage from Nicholas comes just two weeks after Hurricane Ida took a significant amount of refining capacity off the Gulf Coast this month.
Meanwhile, after a three-month drop in global oil demand due to the spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus and renewed pandemic restrictions, the vaccine rollout is expected to rebound, the International Agency said on Tuesday. of energy (IEA), also contributes to the rise in prices. Read more
Details of China’s plans to sell crude from strategic reserves, however, put pressure on prices, with China’s state reserves administration saying it will auction 7.4 million barrels. of gross on September 24.
Reporting by Jessica Jaganathan
Our Standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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