Oil prices fall on hurricane-hit U.S. supply

By Stephanie Kelly

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Oil prices fell on Friday as U.S. Gulf Energy companies resumed production as a series of hurricanes in the region halted production.

Brent futures contracted $ 0.33 to close at $ 75.34 a barrel. U.S. crude oil (WTI) was down $ 0.64 at $ 71.97 a barrel. During the week, Brent gained 3.3% and US crude rose 3.2%, supported by tight supply due to hurricane disruptions.

This Friday’s fall came after five consecutive sessions for Brent. On Wednesday, Brent peaked in late July, with U.S. crude hitting its highest level since early August.

“The reasons for such highs in oil prices in recent days are clearly supply disruptions and inventory reductions, so now US oil production is returning and oil has fallen as traders expected,” said Nishant Bhushan, analyst at Ristad Energy Oil Market.

Gulf Coast oil exports are flowing again after Hurricanes Nicholas and Ida picked up 26 million barrels of marine production. The resumption of Mexico’s Gulf oil production has stalled by about 28%, Reuters reported Thursday.

U.S. energy companies added oil and natural gas drilling rigs for the second week in a row this week, although the number of marine units in the Gulf of Mexico remained unchanged after Hurricane Ida hit the coast two weeks ago.

Energy service company Baker Hughes Co. said 14 foreign rigs in the Gulf of Mexico were shut down two weeks ago due to Ida. Last week, four sea rigs returned to service.

(Report by Stephanie Kelly in New York; Julia Payne in London, Sonali Paul in Melbourne and Roslan Kasavne in Singapore)