MOSCOW (MRC) -- Oil prices increased and were on track to post big gains for the week on worries about supply disruptions as energy companies began shutting production in the Gulf of Mexico ahead of a possible hurricane forecast to hit on the weekend, reported Reuters.
Brent crude futures were USD1.22, or 1.7%, higher at USD72.29 a barrel at 1355 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures climbed USD1.36, or 2%, to USD68.78 a barrel.
For the week, Brent was on track for a rise of 11%, its biggest weekly jump since June 2020. WTI was headed for a weekly gain of more than 10%, also the strongest since June 2020.
"Energy traders are pushing crude prices higher in anticipation of disruptions in output in the Gulf of Mexico and on growing expectations OPEC+ might resist raising output given the recent Delta variant impact over crude demand," Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA, said.
Companies started airlifting workers from Gulf of Mexico oil production platforms on Thursday and BHP and BP said they had begun to stop production at offshore platforms as a storm brewing in the Caribbean Sea was forecast to barrel through the Gulf on the weekend.
Gulf of Mexico offshore wells account for 17% of US crude oil production and 5% of dry natural gas production. Over 45% of total US refining capacity lies along the Gulf Coast.
The prospect of US Gulf supply outages helped turn the market around from losses on Thursday, which had been partly spurred by output returning at a Mexican oil platform following a fatal fire.
"The market may have more immediate concerns, with a storm building in the Caribbean. It's expected to become a powerful hurricane and potentially wreak havoc in the Gulf of Mexico and Texas early next week," ANZ Research said in a note.
As MRC informed earlier, BP raised Aug. 3 its 2025 oil price assumption by USD5/b to USD60/b to reflect an expected supply constraint, while promising a recovery in its own production volumes following a maintenance-related slump in the second quarter.
Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,176,860 tonnes in the first half of 2021, up by 5% year on year. Shipments of exclusively low density polyethylene (LDPE) decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 727,160 tonnes in the first six months of 2021, up by 31% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased. Supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.
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