Crude prices rebounded on Thursday after falling below $50 a barrel as a potential hurricane threatened to enter the Gulf of Mexico, according to Bloomberg MarketWatch.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, November West Texas Intermediate crude rose 81 cents, or 1.6%, to settle at $50.79 a barrel.
December Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose $1.20, or 2.2%, to end trading at $57 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures Exchange.
Yet another severe weather disruption is looming in the Gulf of Mexico as Tropical Storm Nate is expected to become a hurricane by the weekend. Exxon Mobil Corp. is evacuating staff from a platform and Chevron Corp. is preparing to shut down two platforms as the region prepares for Nate to move through the center of the Gulf, threatening oil production and refinery activity in the vicinity.
Meanwhile, November natural gas fell 1.7 cents, or 0.6%, to settle at $2.923 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The price decline for natural gas occurred despite news that the U.S. Energy Information Administration said domestic supplies of natural gas rose by 42 billion cubic feet for the week ending September 29.