Oil holds steady on slow return of U.S. supplies after Hurricane Ida
Oil prices were little changed on Wednesday following overnight losses from a stronger dollar and demand concerns, with a slow production restart in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico providing some support.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 11 cents, or 0.2%, to $68.46 a barrel at 0429 GMT, after sliding 1.4% on Tuesday following the Labor Day holiday.
Brent crude futures fell 2 cents to $71.67 a barrel after falling 0.7% on Tuesday.
Producers in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico are still struggling to restart operations nine days after Hurricane Ida swept through the region with powerful winds and drenching rain.
About 79% of U.S. Gulf production remained offline on Tuesday, with 79 production platforms still unoccupied. About 17.5 million barrels of oil has been lost to the market so far.
The Gulf’s offshore wells make up about 17% of U.S. output.
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