Oil Price at One-week High as U.S. Supply Lowers

Oil prices continue to rise for a second session on Monday as concerns over shut output in the United States causing the low supply, the world's biggest producer, following damage from Hurricane Ida supported the market, along with expectations for higher demand.

From the reports from Reuters, it was seen that the Brent crude rose 67 cents, or 0.9% to $73.59 a barrel, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude also added 66 cents, or 1%, to $70.38 at 0633 GMT. Both markets were at their highest since Sept. 3 earlier in the session.
About three-quarters of the offshore oil production in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, or about 1.4 million barrels per day, has remained halted since late August, roughly equal to what OPEC member Nigeria produces.
U.S. refiners are coming back faster than oil production from the impact of Hurricane Ida, a reverse of past storm recoveries. Most of the nine Louisiana refineries impacted by the storm have restarted or were restarting on Friday.
"Hurricane Ida was unique in having a net bullish impact on U.S. and global oil balances - with the impact on demand smaller than on production," Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) analysts said in a note dated Sept. 9.
The bank estimated that the storm caused U.S. oil inventories to decline by about 30 million barrels and could push up U.S. refining margins and further widen the price spread between WTI and Brent.