Crude oil futures climbed higher on Monday, buoyed by forecasts for a weather-related weekly decline in domestic supplies, according to Bloomberg MarketWatch.
Analysts are eyeing the possibility of a hefty decline in last week’s U.S. crude inventories in the wake of temporary production disruptions caused by a tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico.
August West Texas Intermediate crude rose by 37 cents, or 0.9%, to settle at $43.38 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
On the London ICE Futures Exchange, August Brent crude, the global benchmark, added 29 cents, or 0.6%, to end trading at $45.83 a barrel.
Production shut ins caused by Tropical Storm Cindy last week should lead to sizable withdrawals in the crude oil supply. “We are looking for a 4.5 million-barrel drop in crude supply and a 1.0 million-barrel drop in Cushing, Oklahoma,” said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Price Futures Group.
On Wednesday, the Energy Information Administration will issue its weekly domestic petroleum supply data covering the week ending June 23.
Meanwhile, July natural gas rose 9.8 cents, or 3.4%, to settle at $3.027 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange.