Oil steadies as Hurricane Ida weakens

[LONDON]

OIL steadied on Monday, giving up most of an earlier rally to a four-week high, as Hurricane Ida weakened after forcing shutdowns of US Gulf oil production, even as OPEC+ looked set to go ahead with a planned oil output increase.

Within 12 hours of coming ashore, the storm had weakened into a Category 1 hurricane. Nearly all offshore Gulf oil production, or 1.74 million barrels per day, was suspended in advance of the storm.

Brent crude was up 11 cents or 0.2 per cent at US$72.81 by 1135 GMT (7.35 pm Singapore time), having reached US$73.69 earlier, the highest since August.

US crude fell 30 cents or 0.4 per cent to US$68.44, having earlier touched US$69.64, the highest since Aug. 6.

Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at OANDA, said: "Hurricane Ida will dictate oil's near-term direction. If Ida weakens and its path of destruction is lower than expected, oil's rally will temporarily lose momentum here."

While crude fell on anticipation of a quick supply recovery, US gasoline was up almost 2 per cent as power outages added to refinery closures on the Gulf coast and traders weighed the possibility of prolonged disruptions.

"It's still early days," said Vivek Dhar, analyst at Commonwealth Bank of Australia. "Oil products, like gasoline and diesel, are likely to see prices rise more acutely from refinery outages, especially if there are difficulties in bringing refineries and pipelines back online."

Brent has rallied 40 per cent this year, supported by supply cuts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, known as OPEC+, and some demand recovery from last year's pandemic-induced collapse.

OPEC+ meets on Wednesday to discuss a scheduled 400,000 bpd increase in its oil output, in what would be a further easing of the record output cuts made last year.

OPEC delegates say they expect the increase to go ahead, although Kuwait's oil minister said on Sunday it could be reconsidered.

REUTERS