Friday 17 September 2021

Oil falls as storm-hit U.S. supply trickles back into market | Reuters

Oil falls as storm-hit U.S. supply trickles back into market | Reuters

Oil prices fell on Friday as energy companies in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico restarted production after back-to-back hurricanes in the region shut output.

Brent crude futures fell 33 cents to settle at $75.34 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 64 cents to settle at $71.97 a barrel.For the week, Brent was up 3.3% and U.S. crude was up 3.2%, supported bytight supplies due to the hurricane outages.

Friday's slump followed five straight sessions of rises for Brent. On Wednesday, Brent hit its highest since late July, and U.S. crude hit its highest since early August.

"The reason oil prices reached such highs in the last few days was clearly supply disruptions and drawdowns in inventories, so now that U.S. oil production is returning, oil as expected trades lower," said Nishant Bhushan, Rystad Energy's oil markets analyst.

Oil falls as storm-hit U.S. supply trickles back into market | Reuters

Oil falls as storm-hit U.S. supply trickles back into market | Reuters

Oil prices fell on Friday as energy companies in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico restarted production after back-to-back hurricanes in the region shut output.

Both Brent and U.S. crude benchmarks were on track for weekly gains of 3.2% and 3.3%, respectively, owing to the recent supply tightness due to the hurricane outages.

Brent crude futures fell 42 cents to $75.25 a barrel by 12:48 p.m. EDT (1648 GMT). U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 60 cents to $72.01 a barrel.

Friday's slump came after five straight sessions of rises for Brent. On Wednesday, Brent hit its highest since late July, and U.S. crude hit its highest since early August.

Oil holds above $75 as storm-hit U.S. supply returns slowly | Reuters

Oil holds above $75 as storm-hit U.S. supply returns slowly | Reuters

Brent oil futures dipped on Friday but held above $75 a barrel, remaining on track for a weekly gain of more than 3% thanks to the slow recovery in output after two hurricanes in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

Brent crude futures fell 34 cents, or 0.45%, to $75.33 a barrel by 1134 GMT.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 44 cents, or 0.61%, at $72.17 after settling unchanged in the previous session.

"The market is pausing for a breath. This week's supply-demand reports from OPEC and the IEA suggest that the balance of the year will be tight - demand is expected to grow and non-OPEC supply, partly because of Hurricane Ida, will get tighter," said PVM Oil Associates analyst Tamas Varga.

#UAE could invest further $1.4 bln in Britain this year, UK trade official says | Reuters

UAE could invest further $1.4 bln in Britain this year, UK trade official says | Reuters

The United Arab Emirates could invest at least a further 1 billion pounds ($1.4 billion) in the United Kingdom this year after pledging 10 billion pounds this week to its investment partnership with the British government.

The UK's Trade Commissioner to the Middle East, Simon Penney, told Reuters on Friday there was "line of sight" on a minimum of one billion pounds of transactions between now and the end of the year.

"The expectations are high that it will reach a 2 billion (pound) watermark this year," Penney said of the UAE investment in an online interview.

Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala, which oversees UAE investments in the partnership, did not immediately reply to an emailed request for comment.

Oil holds above $75 as storm-hit U.S. supply returns slowly | Reuters

Oil holds above $75 as storm-hit U.S. supply returns slowly | Reuters

Brent oil futures dipped on Friday but held above $75 a barrel, remaining on track for weekly gains of more than 3% thanks to the slow recovery in output after two hurricanes in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

Brent crude futures fell 27 cents, or 0.36%, to $75.40 a barrel by 0838 GMT, erasing Thursday's 21 cent gain.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 39 cents, or 0.54%, at $72.22 after settling unchanged in the previous session.

"Oil prices are slightly softer as offshore U.S. production continues to slowly return ... and as some countries still struggle to contain the delta variant (of the coronavirus) ," said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA.