Oil was up on Monday as storms threatening the Gulf of Mexico shut more than half of the region’s offshore production, with the more dangerous of the two storms expected to hit later in the week.
Brent crude was up 68 cents, or 1.5%, at $45.03 a barrel by 1:43 p.m. EDT (1743 GMT). US West Texas Intermediate crude rose 26 cents, or 0.6%, to $42.60.
Energy companies shut more than 1 million barrels per day (bpd) of offshore crude oil production in the US Gulf of Mexico because of the twin threat from Tropical Storms Marco and Laura. Workers have been evacuated from more than 100 production platforms. Marco reached the coast Monday, and Laura was expected to accelerate to a hurricane and hit by midweek.
