Investing.com — Oil prices fell Tuesday after Hurricane Beryl’s impact on oil-producing infrastructure across Texas was not as bad as feared, lowering expectations of supply disruptions.
At 2:30 PM ET (18:30 GMT), the stock was down 1.3% at $84.66 per barrel, while down 1.1% to $81.41 per barrel.
Texas oil infrastructure is recovering from Beryl
Oil and gas companies in Texas quickly restarted operations on Tuesday and ports were expected to reopen as the impact of Hurricane Beryl was expected to be minor.
“Early indications suggest that most energy infrastructure has come through unscathed,” ING analysts said in a note. “Some refineries, offshore oil and gas platforms, ports and LNG facilities have been closed as a precaution. Some of this infrastructure is already resuming operations, such as the Port of Corpus Christi – a major export hub for the US.”
Talk of a ceasefire in Gaza is pushing down oil prices
Crude oil prices fell sharply on Monday after a slew of media reports indicated some progress in ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas.
Hamas made several major concessions last week to reach a ceasefire with Israel. But Israel continued its assault on Gaza and launched new attacks on Monday.
Hamas leaders said continued aggression by Israel could jeopardize ceasefire negotiations.
The US was also seen pressuring Israel to agree to a ceasefire. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized that a ceasefire should allow Israel to continue fighting until its war objectives are achieved.
New US Inventory, Economic Data in the Spotlight
The weekly forecast for US crude oil inventories, expected to be released later in the session, is expected to show a draw.
Bets on summer demand hitting domestic supplies got a huge boost last week after the Energy Information Administration reported a massive 12.2 million barrel drop in U.S. weekly inventories.
The API raw data comes just a day earlier than the expected 250,000 barrel decline for the week ending July 5.
The market’s focus this week has also been on a slew of economic signals from China, which will provide more signals about the world’s largest oil importer.
The Chinese data and figures will be released in the coming week and will likely align with the Chinese demand outlook.
Concerns about a possible trade war between China and the West also continued after the European Union imposed high tariffs on imports of Chinese electric vehicles.
(Peter Nurse, Ambar Warrick contributed to this article.)
