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Oil treads water as huge Gulf of Mexico storm shuts output

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MELBOURNE: Oil prices were in a holding pattern on Thursday as a massive storm in the Gulf of Mexico raced towards the heart of the US oil industry, forcing oil rigs and refineries to shut, with little impact expected on supply as oil stockpiles remain high.


US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 4 cents, or 0.1 per cent, to $43.35 a barrel by 0148 GMT, erasing Wednesday’s slight rise.


Brent crude futures for October, which expire on Friday, inched up 5 cents to $45.69 a barrel after falling 22 cents, or 0.5 per cent, on Wednesday. The more active November Brent contract rose 2 cents to $46.18.


The threat from Hurricane Laura pushed the market higher earlier in the week, but the storm is not expected to affect supplies much because oil and product inventories remain high due to the coronavirus pandemic’s hit to fuel demand.


“It really depends on the damage sustained. But there’s a huge mitigation in that (crude) stockpile levels are at their highest in decades,” said Vivek Dhar, a commodities analyst at Commonwealth Bank.


US crude inventories stood at 507.8 million barrels at the end of the week to August 21, even after a larger-than-expected drop of 4.7 million barrels.


Laura intensified on Wednesday and is now forecast to bring heavy rains and catastrophic, 150 mile-per-hour (240 kph) winds that will drive ocean waters up to 40 miles (64 km) inland, the US National Hurricane Center said.


“It’s certainly packing a punch,” said National Australia Bank’s head of commodity research, Lachlan Shaw. — Reuters


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