SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil prices rose in early Asian trade on Thursday on concerns about potential supply disruptions in the Middle East, with Israel planning to strike oil-producer Iran, and on spikes in fuel demand as a major storm barreled into Florida.
Brent crude futures rose 37 cents, or 0.5%, to $76.95 a barrel, while the U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures was up 35 cents, also 0.5%, at $73.59 a barrel at 0034 GMT.
The world’s largest oil producer and consumer has been hit by a second major storm, Hurricane Milton, which made landfall on Florida’s west coast, spawning tornadoes and threatening surges of seawater.
The storm has already driven up demand for gasoline in the state, with about a quarter of fuel stations selling out of supplies, which has helped support crude prices.
Further underpinning prices, investors remained wary of a potential escalation in tensions between Israel and Iran, with Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant promising an Israeli strike against Iran would be “lethal, precise and surprising”.
U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about Israel’s plans concerning Iran in a 30-minute call on Wednesday that the White House described as “direct and very productive”.
Even with threats to the oil-producing Middle Eastern region top of mind, weak demand continues to underpin the fundamental outlook. The U.S. Energy Information Admnistration (EIA) on Tuesday downgraded its demand forecast for 2025 on weakening economic activity in China and North America.
EIA data on Wednesday showed crude inventories jumped by 5.8 million barrels to 422.7 million barrels last week. That was a bigger build than analysts polled by Reuters had expected, but much lower than estimated on Tuesday by the American Petroleum Institute industry group.
(Reporting by Sudarshan Varadhan; Editing by Sonali Paul)