Oil prices rise as freeze shuts down US oil wells and slows refineries By Reuters

By Jessica Jaganathan SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil prices rose on Tuesday as a cold front shut down wells and refineries in Texas, the largest crude-producing state in the United States, the world’s largest oil producer. Prices also rose when Yemen’s Houthi group, aligned with Iran, said it attacked airports in Saudi Arabia with drones, raising supply concerns at the world’s largest oil exporter and optimism of a global economic recovery amid. of the acceleration of the launch of the COVID-19 vaccine. It rose 35 cents, or 0.6%, to $ 63.65 a barrel at 0434 GMT, after rising to its highest level since January 2020 in the previous session. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 82 cents, or 1.4%, at $ 60.29 a barrel. WTI did not reach an agreement on Monday due to a federal holiday in the United States. Prices will close at the close of business on Tuesday. “The unexpected supply disruption in the United States provides another short-term price recovery bridge that has likely brought oil prices to a level that markets were eventually heading to, but a little faster than expected,” said Stephen Innes, Axi’s chief global markets strategist in a note. on Tuesday. Cold weather in the United States halted Texas’ oil wells and refineries on Monday and forced restrictions on oil and pipeline operators. The unusual freeze prompted the state’s electric power providers to impose rotating blackouts, leaving nearly 3 million homes and businesses without power. Texas produces approximately 4.6 million barrels of oil per day and is home to 31 refineries, the most of any state in the United States, according to data from the Energy Information Administration, including some of the largest in the country. In the Middle East, Yemen’s Houthi group, aligned with Iran, said on Monday that it had attacked Saudi Arabia’s Abha and Jeddah airports with drones. The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis in Yemen said early Monday morning that it had intercepted and destroyed an explosives-laden drone fired by the Houthis into the kingdom. The World Health Organization (WHO) listed AstraZeneca (NASDAQ 🙂 and the University of Oxford COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use on Monday, expanding access to the relatively inexpensive vaccine in the developing world. By limiting price gains, employers in Norway’s oil industry reached a wage deal with the Safe union on Tuesday, preventing a strike at the Mongstad crude terminal and the closure of major offshore oil and gas fields.

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