Oil climbs to one-week high on U.S. supply concerns
Oil rose on Monday, supported by concerns over shut output in the United States because of damage from Hurricane Ida, with analysts expecting prices to remain rangebound in a stable market over the coming months.
Brent crude rose 0.81% to settle at $73.51 per barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained 1.05% to finish the session at $70.45 per barrel.
Brent has held between $70 and $74 a barrel over the past three weeks.
A U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) last week said it expected Brent prices to remain near current levels for the remainder of 2021, averaging $71 a barrel during the fourth quarter.
“Markets still need clarity on the virus impacts beyond the very near term; and until we get that, it seems like most assets, including oil, may continue to drift sideways,” said Howie Lee, an economist at Singapore’s OCBC bank.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Monday trimmed its world oil demand forecast for the last quarter of 2021, citing the Delta coronavirus variant and saying a further recovery would be partially delayed until next year.
The producer group said in a monthly report that it expects oil demand to average 99.7 million barrels per day (bpd) in the fourth quarter of 2021, down 110,000 bpd from last month’s forecast.
Reference: CNBC
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