Oil prices rose on Tuesday as a cold front shut wells and refineries in Texas, the biggest crude producing state in the United States, the world’s biggest oil producer.
Prices also gained as Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group said it struck airports in Saudi Arabia with drones, raising supply concerns in the world’s biggest oil exporter, and on optimism for a global economic recovery amid accelerated COVID-19 vaccine rollouts.
Brent crude slid 22 cents to $63.08 per barrel, after rising to its highest since January 2020 in the previous session.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures gained 54 cents, or 0.9%, to $60.01 per barrel. WTI did not settle on Monday because of a U.S. federal holiday. Prices will settle at the close of trading on Tuesday.
The cold weather in the U.S. halted Texas oil wells and refineries on Monday and forced restrictions on natural gas and crude pipeline operators.
The rare deep freeze prompted the state’s electric power suppliers to impose rotating blackouts, leaving nearly 3 million homes and businesses without power.
Texas produces roughly 4.6 million barrels of oil per day and is home to 31 refineries, the most of any U.S. state, according to Energy Information Administration data, including some of the country’s largest.
In the Middle East, Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group said on Monday it had struck Saudi Arabia’s Abha and Jeddah airports with drones.
Reference: CNBC
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