On Monday, oil prices continue to lose for the second consecutive session as US producers have started to restore output after Hurricane Delta.
By 00.23 GMT, Brent crude oil futures for December dropped by 1.3% or 55 cents to USD42.30/barrel and US WTI for November slumped by 1.3% or 52 cents to USD40.08/barrel. This was in contrast with last week when prices posted more than a 9% gain.
On Sunday, Hurricane Delta, which recorded the greatest blow to the US offshore Gulf of Mexico energy production in 15 years, had downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone. That same day, workers were returning to production platforms, Total SA resumed the restarting process of its 225,500 bpd Port Arthur, Texas, refinery.
On the other hand, the country’s biggest oil products pipeline, Colonial Pipeline, closed its main distillate fuel line following the disruption of power due to the hurricane.
Another factor weighing down prices was the end of Norway’s oil workers’ strike which started last Monday and threatened to slash the country’s oil and gas output by almost 25%. Norwegian oil companies succeeded in bargaining for wages with labor union officials.
Looking forward, economist Michael McCarthy of CMC Markets expected that there is potential for oil prices to stay strong as the US is just starting its hurricane season.
