Oil prices up 3pc on supply disruptions and Trump’s return

London

Oil prices rose more than 3 per cent yesterday, supported by supply disruptions in Norway, a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico and US President Donald Trump’s return to the White House from hospital.

Brent crude futures were up $1.26, or 3.1pc, by 1354 GMT at $42.55 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up $1.29, or 3.3pc, at $40.51. An oil worker strike in Norway will cut the country’s total output capacity by a little more than 330,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, about 8pc of total production, the Norwegian Oil and Gas Association said. About 60pc of the total cuts were in natural gas, with crude oil and natural gas liquids making up the rest, calculations show.

“Besides Norway, there could also be production outages in the Gulf of Mexico this week, where another hurricane has developed,” Commerzbank said. Energy companies were evacuating offshore oil platforms as Hurricane Delta strengthened to category 2 and could become a major hurricane when it reaches the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday.

Chevron has begun evacuating all personnel from its platforms in the region and is shutting-in the facilities, the company said. A rally in world stock markets after Trump’s return to the White House and expectations of a new US stimulus package also boosted oil.

Oil prices had fallen sharply when Trump went to hospital on Friday for treatement for COVID-19, raising investor uncertainty over what would happen in the United States as the country gears up for the presidential election on Nov. 3.

Hopes for a bipartisan US economic relief package grew as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin spoke on Monday and prepared to talk again on Tuesday in a concerted effort to reach a compromise on legislation.