Oil prices rose slightly on Thursday after a sell-off triggered by the U.S. presidential election, with risks to oil supplies from a Trump presidency and a hurricane developing on the Gulf Coast outweighing a dollar stronger American and higher stocks.
Brent crude oil futures rose 26 cents, or 0.35%, to $75.18 a barrel by 0125 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained 16 cents or 0.22% to $71.85.
Concerns about a Trump presidency squeezing oil supplies from Iran and Venezuela as well as an approaching storm “more than offset the post-election impact of a stronger U.S. dollar and . .. U.S. inventories higher than expected,” Tony Sycamore, market analyst at IG, wrote in a note.
Mr Trump's election initially triggered a sell-off that sent oil prices down more than $2, with the US dollar hitting its highest level since September 2022. But front-month contracts reduced their losses to settle at 61 cents for Brent and 30 cents for WTI at the end of Wednesday's session.
Donald Trump should reimpose his “maximum pressure policy” on Iranian oil. That could reduce supply by a million barrels per day, according to an Energy Aspect estimate, although analysts warn it would be difficult to stop the flow of Iranian oil to China.
During his first term, Mr. Trump also implemented tougher sanctions on Venezuelan oil, measures that were briefly reversed by the Biden administration before being reinstated.
In North America, Hurricane Rafael intensified into a Category 3 hurricane on Wednesday, and about 17% of crude oil production, or 304,418 barrels per day in the Gulf of Mexico, was halted in response, a said the U.S. Office of Environmental Safety and Enforcement.
U.S. crude inventories rose 2.1 million barrels to 427.7 million barrels in the week ended Nov. 1, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said Wednesday. (EIA), while forecasts were forecasting an increase of 1.1 million barrels. [EIA/S]
