Oil steadies as Hurricane Ida weakens, OPEC+ in focus | Reuters

Oil steadies as Hurricane Ida weakens, OPEC+ in focus | Reuters

Oil steadied on Monday, giving up most of an earlier rally to a four-week high, as Hurricane Ida weakened after forcing shutdowns of U.S. Gulf oil production, and 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. read more

Brent crude was up 11 cents, or 0.2%, at $72.81 by 1135 GMT, having reached $73.69 earlier, the highest since Aug. 2. U.S. crude fell 30 cents or 0.4% to $68.44, having earlier touched $69.64, the highest since Aug. 6.

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