Brent crude oil Futures settled at $71.61 a barrel, down 36 cents, or 0.5%. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude settled at $68.65 a barrel, down 32 cents, or 0.5%.
Like us Gulf Coast As production and refining activity resumes, investors have opted to dump oil contracts ahead of the weekend, said Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho in New York.
“We could come back on Monday and everything would be fine: refineries would be running at 100%, everyone would be back on the rig, oil would be coming back and gasoline would be coming out of the refinery, and the market could potentially go back exponentially,” Yawger said.
For the week, oil futures closed higher following strong storm-related gains earlier in the week, breaking a streak of declines. Brent was up about 0.8% from the close of last Friday’s session, while WTI was up about 1.4%.
Official data showed that by Thursday the storm had nearly closed 42% of oil production in the region that accounts for about 15% of U.S. output. “These cuts are expected to be short-lived and, in the broader context, are unlikely to spur much movement in crude balances given the importance of shale production, which accounts for the majority of U.S. production,” Ritterbusch said. Crude prices were also weighed down by the U.S. rig count from energy services group Baker Hughes, which reported the biggest weekly increase in oil and natural gas rigs in a year.
The number of oil and gas rigs increased by eight in the week of September 13 to 590, returning to mid-June levels. The increase was the largest since the week of September 15, 2023. Crude oil rigs increased by five to 488 this week, while gas rigs increased by three to 97.
Also during the week, money managers reduced their net long positions in crude oil futures and options in New York and London by 27,493 contracts to 59,741 in the week to Sept. 10, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission said.
Both the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and the International Energy Agency cut their demand growth forecasts this week, citing economic problems in China, the world’s largest oil importer.
U.S. oil inventories also rose overall last week as crude imports rose and exports fell, while fuel demand weakened, the Energy Information Administration said Wednesday.
Investors are looking ahead to the US Federal Reserve’s two-day monetary policy meeting next week, which is expected to cut interest rates on Wednesday.
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