Oil held gains in New York after rising above $60 a barrel for the first time in a year as a deepening energy crisis in the US disrupted crude production and forced the shutdown of some of the nation’s biggest refineries.
As much as 1.7 million barrels a day of oil output has halted and deliveries via pipeline suspended as freezing weather cripples Texas’s power system and blackouts spread to other states in the central US Energy Aspects Ltd. said 3 million barrels a day of processing capacity could be off-line.
The combination of frigid temperatures and refinery closures has spurred a scramble for fuels and is likely to lead to higher US prices for all kinds of products from gasoline to propane.
