Oil prices bubbled higher on Thursday on fears of supply disruptions in the United States from a hurricane headed for Florida, a day after surging in the latest leg of a roller-coaster ride, traders said.
The price of benchmark Brent North Sea crude oil for delivery in October rose by seven cents to $41,53 a barrel in early trading in London.
New York’s reference light sweet crude for October delivery gained six cents to $44,07 in pre-opening electronic trading.
”All eyes are on Hurricane Frances and the fact that it was an extremely solid performance yesterday [Wednesday],” said Robert Laughlin, a trader at GNI-Man Financial.
Hurricane Frances lashed the Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas as it barrelled toward Florida, where authorities have declared a state of emergency.
”Dangerous category-four [Hurricane] Frances continues west-northwestward through the Bahamas,” the Miami-based National Hurricane Centre said on its website.
”A hurricane warning remains in effect for all of the Bahamas and for the Turks and Caicos islands. The hurricane watch is extended southward along the Florida east coast to Craig Key,” it added.
Oil prices jumped by nearly $2 a barrel in New York on Wednesday after an announcement that US crude stocks had dropped for the fifth straight week raised supply worries.
Previously prices had plunged by more than 10% in little more than a week as worries about supply threats in Iraq, Russia and Venezuela eased.
”I think the market was overdone on Monday and Tuesday. It got sold off too quickly,” said Laughlin.
Crude prices had dropped during seven of the previous eight sessions, after marking a record of $49,40 on August 20.
US commercial crude inventories slid by 4,2-million barrels to 287,1-million in the week ending August 27, the US Energy Department said.
”The reports really got the momentum going because the crude oil situation has gotten tight again when it had been previously well supplied,” said US-based Fimat analyst John Kilduff. — Sapa-AFP