WTI rises as Francine disrupts supplies

U.S. crude oil jumped more than 2% to close above $68 per barrel on Thursday after Hurricane Francine churned through the Gulf of Mexico, disrupting oil production before making landfall in Louisiana.

Oil futures rose more than 2% in the previous session as the storm threatened supplies. Francine has since been downgraded to a tropical depression.

More than 730,000 barrels per day of oil in the Gulf of Mexico is currently shut in, according to a Thursday update from the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.

Here are Thursday’s closing energy prices:

• West Texas Intermediate October: $68.97 per barrel, up $1.66, or 2.47%. Year to date, U.S. crude oil has fallen nearly 4%.
• Brent November contract: $71.97 per barrel, up $1.36, or 1.93%. Year to date, the global benchmark has dropped around 6.6%.
• RBOB Gasoline October contract: $1.927 per gallon, up about 1.57%. Year to date, gasoline has pulled back more than 8%.
• Natural Gas October contract: $2.357 per thousand cubic feet, up 3.83%. Year to date, gas is down more than 6%.

The quick rebound on the storm came after prices closed at their lowest level since December 2021 on Tuesday. Giovanni Staunovo, an analyst with UBS, said the recent slump may be due to traders losing confidence in OPEC’s ability to maintain compliance with production cuts at lower price levels.

UBS expects oil prices to continue to rise, at least in the short term.

“With likely further oil inventory declines ahead as supply lags demand growth, and given low speculative positioning, we retain our positive price outlook—we expect Brent crude oil to move back up above USD 80/bbl over the coming months,” Staunovo said.