Hurricane Harvey pushes oil prices to $54 per barrel

Oil prices rose on Wednesday and remained so on Thursday due to the closure of refineries as a result of Hurricane Harvey, which knocked out refineries, pipelines, and ports in some parts of the United States.

By 7am on Thursday morning, Brent crude, the international benchmark, traded at $54.02 per barrel, a 16 cents drop from $54.20 which it exchanged for on Wednesday afternoon.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) also traded at 49.05 a barrel, also a 16 cents drop from $49.21 which it exchanged for on Wednesday afternoon.

Before now, Brent crude price had hovered around $53 with WTI trading in the $47 region.

NAN reports that oil facilities in Texas and Louisiana that were affected by the hurricane are now restarting.

Mohammed Barkindo, secretary general of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), has also expressed the organisation’s willingness to continue ongoing efforts to ensure stability in the oil market.

In a letter sent to the Rick Perry, United States energy secretary, Barkindo commiserated with the people of Texas and Louisiana, adding that OPEC will make efforts to mitigate any disruption to current or future supply of oil.

The OPEC/non-OPEC joint committee ministerial meeting will hold on September 22 in Vienna, where representatives from Libya and Nigeria will explain their production outlook to justify continued exemption from production cuts.

OPEC and some non-OPEC countries had agreed to production cuts to end oil supply glut in the market and stabilise prices.

Irma, a more severe hurricane, is expected to hit Florida on Saturday.