Oil prices drop after Hurricane Ida hits US Gulf rigs, refineries
Oil prices reversed gains on Monday, pulling back from more than three-week highs reached earlier in the session, as a powerful hurricane slammed into the U.S. Gulf coast https://www.reuters.com/world/us/gulf-coast-ports-close-loop-halts-oil-deliveries-ahead-hurricane-ida-2021-08-29, forcing shutdowns and evacuations of hundreds of offshore oil platforms.
Brent was down 16 cents or 0.2% at $72.54 a barrel by 0654 GMT. It rose more than 11% last week in anticipation of disruptions to oil production from Hurricane Ida.
U.S. oil was down by 49 cents or 0.7% at $68.25 a barrel, having jumped a little over 10% over last week.
The benchmarks hit highs not seen since early August, $73.69 and $69.64, respectively, earlier in the session, as Ida crossed the coast near Port Fourchon, Louisiana, a hub of the Gulf’s offshore energy industry.
