The rally in oil prices didn’t do so well on Tuesday as refineries in the United States restarts after the devastating effects hurricane Harvey to the heart of the U.S. oil industry. Iinvestors believe that this would result to more crude output.
The largest U.S. refinery Motiva Enterprises and other major refineries were online again on Tuesday as Motiva already started production last Monday. It was closed for more than two weeks after Hurricane Harvey battered almost the entire U.S. Gulf Coast.
Subsequently when Harvey left the country, Hurricane Irma made a landfall in Florida last Sunday and disrupted the power of almost 7.4 million businesses and homes.
Looking on oil futures, U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude prices edged down about 0.1 percent or 4 cents to finish at $48.03 per barrel and global benchmark for oil prices Brent crude futures also slipped by 0.1 percent or 5 cents to settle at $53.79 per barrel on the previous session.
According to an initial Reuters poll, there are possibilities than crude stockpiles in the stateside surged following the impact of the hurricane and refined product inventories were expected to drop. However six analysts form the Energy Information Administration (EIA) and the American Petroleum Institute (API) calculated that crude stocks probably added 2.3 million barrels in the week.
Outside the U.S., energy minister in Saudi Arabia Khalid al-Falih had a meeting his Kazakh and Venezuelan counterparts regarding the likelihood of supply cut extension beyond March next year on the back of oil surplus concerns.