AGL 40.00 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
AIRLINK 132.66 Increased By ▲ 3.13 (2.42%)
BOP 6.89 Increased By ▲ 0.21 (3.14%)
CNERGY 4.57 Decreased By ▼ -0.06 (-1.3%)
DCL 8.92 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-0.22%)
DFML 42.75 Increased By ▲ 1.06 (2.54%)
DGKC 84.00 Increased By ▲ 0.23 (0.27%)
FCCL 32.90 Increased By ▲ 0.13 (0.4%)
FFBL 77.06 Increased By ▲ 1.59 (2.11%)
FFL 12.20 Increased By ▲ 0.73 (6.36%)
HUBC 110.01 Decreased By ▼ -0.54 (-0.49%)
HUMNL 14.40 Decreased By ▼ -0.16 (-1.1%)
KEL 5.53 Increased By ▲ 0.14 (2.6%)
KOSM 8.32 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-0.95%)
MLCF 39.67 Decreased By ▼ -0.12 (-0.3%)
NBP 65.50 Increased By ▲ 5.21 (8.64%)
OGDC 198.74 Decreased By ▼ -0.92 (-0.46%)
PAEL 26.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.65 (-2.44%)
PIBTL 7.62 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.52%)
PPL 159.00 Increased By ▲ 1.08 (0.68%)
PRL 26.24 Decreased By ▼ -0.49 (-1.83%)
PTC 18.35 Decreased By ▼ -0.11 (-0.6%)
SEARL 82.24 Decreased By ▼ -0.20 (-0.24%)
TELE 8.12 Decreased By ▼ -0.19 (-2.29%)
TOMCL 34.40 Decreased By ▼ -0.11 (-0.32%)
TPLP 8.98 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-0.88%)
TREET 16.88 Decreased By ▼ -0.59 (-3.38%)
TRG 59.49 Decreased By ▼ -1.83 (-2.98%)
UNITY 27.52 Increased By ▲ 0.09 (0.33%)
WTL 1.40 Increased By ▲ 0.02 (1.45%)
BR100 10,614 Increased By 206.9 (1.99%)
BR30 31,874 Increased By 160.5 (0.51%)
KSE100 98,972 Increased By 1644 (1.69%)
KSE30 30,784 Increased By 591.7 (1.96%)
Markets

Oil hits 6-week high as Storm Nicholas hits US Gulf

  • US energy firms brace for another storm amid slow recovery from Ida
  • Over 40% of US Gulf's oil, gas output still shut following Ida
  • IEA sees oil demand rebounding by 1.6 million bpd in October
  • China to auction 7.38 mln bbl of crude from strategic reserves
Published September 14, 2021

LONDON: Oil prices hit a six-week high on Tuesday as Hurricane Nicholas weakened into a tropical storm, bringing the threat of widespread floods and power outages to Texas and Louisiana, and as the International Energy Agency forecast a big demand rebound for the rest of the year.

Brent crude was up 35 cents, or 0.5%, at $73.86 a barrel by 1222 GMT, after hitting a session high of $74.23. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude climbed 31 cents, or 0.4%, to $70.76 a barrel, having hit a high of $71.14.

Both contracts have risen for three consecutive sessions and were trading near their highest since early August.

Nicholas is the second major storm to threaten the US Gulf region in recent weeks. Hurricane Ida killed more than two dozen people in August.

Evacuations were underway on Monday from offshore oil platforms in the area, as onshore oil refiners prepared for Nicholas.

"The substantial production outages in the Gulf of Mexico remain one of the factors driving prices," Commerzbank said.

Oil at one-week high as US supply concerns dominate

About 794,000 barrels per day (bpd), or more than 40% of the US Gulf's oil and gas output remained offline on Monday, two weeks after Ida slammed into the Louisiana coast, according to offshore regulator Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE).

After three months of decline in global oil demand, COVID-19 vaccine roll-outs are set to rekindle appetite for oil that was suppressed by pandemic restrictions especially in Asia, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday.

The IEA sees a 1.6 million bpd demand rebound in October, and continuing to grow until the end of the year.

Overall, the agency lowered its 2021 global oil demand growth forecast by 105,000 bpd to 5.2 million bpd, but raised its 2022 figure by 85,000 bpd to 3.2 million bpd.

These forecasts are well below those of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries which sees demand growing by about 5.96 million bpd this year and 4.15 million bpd next year.

Protesters blocked an oil tanker from loading at the Libyan terminal of Es Sider on Tuesday, the National Oil Corporation (NOC) media office and an engineer at the port said.

On Tuesday, details on China's plans to sell crude from its strategic reserves weighed on prices.

China's state reserves administration said it would auction around 7.38 million barrels of crude on Sept. 24, marking the first batch of sales in a rare release of strategic inventories.

Comments

Comments are closed.