Oil Remains Stable

8 Jul 2024 , 09:55 AM

Oil prices were little changed as investors braced for disruptions in energy supply, with the main ports in Texas closing ahead of Tropical Storm Beryl, which is expected to build into a hurricane and make landfall on Monday.

Brent crude futures rose 11 cents, or 0.1%, to $86.65 per barrel, after falling 89 cents on Friday.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was trading at $83.08 per barrel, down 8 cents from the previous session’s low of 72 cents.

The ports of Corpus Christi, Houston, Galveston, Freeport, and Texas City closed on Sunday to prepare for Tropical Storm Beryl, which could become a Category 2 hurricane after making landfall on the Texas coast between Galveston and Corpus Christi later Monday.

Port closures may cause a temporary halt in crude and liquefied natural gas exports, oil shipments to refineries, and motor gasoline delivery from those facilities.

WTI rose 2.1% last week after the Energy Information Administration reported that stocks of oil and refined products declined in the week ending June 28.

The number of operational oil rigs in the United States remained steady at 479 last week, the lowest since December 2021, according to Baker Hughes’ weekly report released on Friday.

Oil prices were also bolstered by expectations of interest rate reduction, according to Sycamore, following statistics from the United States on Friday showing that inflation is dropping and employment growth is decreasing.

Lower interest rates can stimulate economic activity and drive up crude oil demand.

Investors were also keeping an eye on how last week’s elections in the United Kingdom, France, and Iran may affect geopolitics and energy policies.

France faced potential political deadlock after elections on Sunday threw up a hung parliament while Iranians chose Masoud Pezeshkian as their new president, a relative moderate who beat a hard-line rival in the election.

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