NEW YORK: Brent and US crude prices rose on Monday, rebounding off a three-week low as record flooding in Canada's main oil-producing province threatened exports to the United States.
Major Canadian pipelines that move almost 1 million barrels per day (bpd) of Alberta oil sands crude remained shut on Monday after a spill on a smaller line was discovered over the weekend, a spokesman for operator Enbridge Inc said.
The threat to Canadian exports overshadowed fears that a credit crunch in China could hit demand in the world's No. 2 oil consumer, which sent Brent beneath $100 a barrel in early trade, extending a near-5-percent slide last week.
The US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) benchmark had the bigger bounce - more than $3 a barrel off a trough of $92.67, the lowest since June 4. WTI's discount to Brent narrowed to its smallest since November 2011, touching $5.91 a barrel.
"Imports from Canada should be down," said Phil Flynn, analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago. "That's supporting US crude futures versus Brent."
Brent crude for August delivery settled up 25 cents at $101.16 a barrel, after bottoming at $99.67. Last week Brent fell 4.7 percent.
US crude for August delivery settled up $1.49 at $95.18 a barrel, rallying off of a three-week low of $92.67.
Traders are also watching for the restart of a major crude processing unit at BP's Whiting refining in Indiana, which draws crude from Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery point of the WTI benchmark.
BP was starting up the revamped crude distillation unit at its 405,000 bpd refinery on Friday, sources familiar with Whiting's operations said.
"The Enbridge pipeline problems (in Canada) and the Whiting, Indiana, refinery restart equals a WTI rally," said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital LLC in New York.
A Reuters poll of energy analysts showed US crude oil stocks likely fell last week due to lower imports and higher refinery activity. The American Petroleum Institure publishes its report on US energy stocks on Tuesday, followed by the US Energy Information Administration on Wednesday.
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