US crude futures steadied on Tuesday, hovering just below $90 a barrel, supported by news a dense sea fog has halted crude imports into the Houston Ship Channel, the waterway to the busiest US petrochemical port. NYMEX crude for March delivery fell 14 cents to $89.88 a barrel in Globex electronic trading by 2328 GMT. US crude settled up $1.06 at $90.02 a barrel on Monday.
Fifty-nine ships were waiting on Monday for dense fog to clear on the Houston Ship Channel, a waterway to the ports supplying oil to refineries in east Texas and western Louisiana, the US Coast Guard said on Monday.
Disruptions to imports into the Houston Ship Channel has stoked supply concerns as slowing imports can lead to sharp drawdowns in commercial crude inventory levels and can occasionally force oil refiners to slow output.
Adding some support on Monday, the White House said it would spend some $584 million by the end of September to buy crude oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Senior Opec officials on Monday downplayed talk of any change in oil output during its next meeting on March 5, saying a decision would hinge on the health of the global economy. On Friday, the oil cartel at a meeting in Vienna agreed to leave its output unchanged for now, but Gulf producer Kuwait said a supply rise would be discussed, while Iran and Venezuela suggested a cut might be in order when the group next meets in a month's time.