Oil prices rise due to fears of a hurricane, before the OPEC inventory report

US oil prices on Wednesday morning traded higher as Hurricane Florence moved to the East Coast, pushing up crude oil demand and raising concerns over turbulence. gasoline and pipelines in the region.

The threat from Florence to the Carolinas and Virginia has increased in recent days as the storm spread across the Atlantic, forcing more than a million people to evacuate dozens of warships from Virginia's ports. after the category 4 storm that is expected to hit the area on Thursday.

October futures on West Texas Intermediate crude

CLV8, + 0.88%

The US benchmark rose 67 cents, or 1%, to $ 69.92 a barrel, after jumping 2.5% and being the highest settlement in a week on Tuesday. November Brent

LCOX8, + 0.15%

June 14, less than 0.2%, to reach $ 79.20 per barrel on ICE Futures Europe, a day after crossing the highest level of its June 29 contract, according to the Dow Jones Market Data Group.

Concerns about the imminent storm and expected supply disruptions have supported recent rises in crude prices.

Oil market participants are considering the publication of the latest monthly crude oil report from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, due to be released Wednesday at 7:10 am ET.

Investors and analysts will monitor the impact of impending sanctions on Iran that are expected to come into effect in November. Saudi Arabia – de facto leader of OPEC – and main non-OPEC producer Russia has agreed to increase production last summer in order to make up for deficits expected from Tehran.

Tuesday night, the American Petroleum Institute reported that supplies of US crude dropped by 8.6 million barrels for the week ended Sept. 7, sources said. However, API data showed that gasoline supplies increased by 2.1 million barrels and distillate stocks increased by 5.8 million barrels, sources said. Data on the Energy Information Administration's bid will be released later Wednesday at 10:30 am (ET), with analysts polled by S & P Global Platts predicting a drop of 2.7 million barrels of crude oil.

Market players also closely monitored deliveries from oil producers in the Middle East, Libya and Iraq.

Carlo Alberto De Casa, Chief Analyst at ActivTrades, said that the reason for the movements in the crude was multiple.

"The main one is probably the decline in US crude stocks, but the market is also taking into account the growing tensions in Libya and Iraq, as well as the imminent sanctions of Iran," said De Casa in a published research note. Wednesday.

"On top of that, there are fears of potential disruption to Hurricane Florence, which is heading dangerously toward the cost of the eastern United States," he said.

Concerns about the impact of escalating trade conflict between the world's two largest economies have also put pressure on foreign markets in recent months, with particular emphasis on the clashes between China and the United States. United.