Oil prices held steady on Thursday, supported by rising demand from the United States where Gulf Coast refineries are restarting in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.
But three more hurricanes in the Caribbean and Atlantic were threatening more disruption, according to Reuters.
Despite the storms, ongoing high crude output including from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meant there were ample supplies to meet demand.
US West Texas Intermediate crude futures CLc1 were at $49.08 barrel at 0237 GMT, 8 cents below their last settlement, but not far off their highest in more than three weeks, reached in the previous session.
Brent crude futures LCOc1, the benchmark for oil prices outside the United States, dipped 9 cents to $54.11 a barrel, though still not far from May highs reached the previous day.
US Gulf Coast facilities were slowly recovering from the devastating effects of Harvey, which hammered Louisiana and Texas almost two weeks ago, shutting key infrastructure in the heart of the US oil and natural gas industry.
As of Wednesday, about 3.8 million barrels of daily refining capacity, or about 20 per cent, was shut in, although a number of the refineries, as well as petroleum handling ports, were in the process of restarting.
OPEC’s crude exports in August were 25.19 million barrels per day (bpd), their lowest level since April, according to Thomson Reuters Oil Research.
Still, average 2017 levels for January-August of 25.05 million bpd were above the average 24.85 million bpd in 2016, despite OPEC’s pledge to hold back supplies between January this year and March 2018.
