Worried that Hurricane Weather will Affect Oil Prices in the International Market

As traders worried that hurricane weather might affect the supply of crude oil in the international market, crude oil futures prices in the international market continued to rise on the 15th.

The U.S. Meteorological Department said that a tropical storm formed in the Atlantic Ocean is currently running in the Caribbean Sea and will intensify into a hurricane on the 16th of this month. Investors are worried that it may attack oil production and refining facilities in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, thereby affecting the supply of crude oil in the international market. This was the main factor driving the rise in oil prices that day.

In addition, data released by the U.S. Department of Energy that day showed that in the week ending August 10, U.S. crude oil commercial inventories and gasoline inventories fell significantly, while other refined oil inventories, including diesel and heating oil, increased. 200,000 barrels, but the increase was significantly lower than the 1 million barrels analysts had predicted.

On the same day, the price of light crude oil futures for September delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 95 cents per barrel from the previous trading day to close at $73.33. The price of North Sea Brent crude oil futures for September delivery on the London International Petroleum Exchange rose $1.13 per barrel to close at $71.64.

In addition, the price of gasoline futures for September delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 3.5 cents per gallon to close at $2.0088. Heating oil futures for September delivery rose 4.44 cents per gallon to close at $2.0269. Natural gas futures for September delivery fell 7.6 cents to settle at $6.864 per 1,000 cubic feet.