Oil Prices for February 17, 2021: Brent Crude, WTI

Photographer: Matthew Busch / Bloomberg

Oil held near $ 60 a barrel in Asia as a deeper energy crisis in the U.S. accounted for about a third of the country’s crude production.

New York futures fell lower after a 1% settlement Tuesday from Friday’s close. Freezing temperatures have caused power outages across the central U.S., reducing yields by 3.5 million barrels per day or more, according to traders and industry officials. There has also been more than 3 million barrels per day of refueling capacity, consultant Energy Aspects Ltd. has made an estimate.

See also: U.S. Oil Product Pluges by thirds like Permian Slams Freeze

The crisis in one of the world’s largest oil producers continues to drive up global prices and has boosted fuel, with U.S. gasoline futures jumping nearly 5% on Tuesday. But the loss of demand from troubled finishers has also pushed West Texas Intermediate’s fast-moving timeline back to a bearish contango structure for the first time in about a month.

While it is not clear how long the cold snare will last in the U.S., the impact on global prices may be short-lived. Crude will then revert to trading on fundamentals, with supply control from OPEC + and a gradual improvement in demand as vaccines are distributed that appear to support the market.

Prices
WTI for delivery in March fell 0.2% to $ 59.93 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as of 8:20 am in Singapore WTI did not settle Monday due to holidays in the US Brent closed for a 0.1% April settlement at $ 63.35 a barrel on Tuesday on the ICE Futures Europe exchange

In Russia, meanwhile, freezing temperatures are also contributing to yield cuts. The expected increase in Russia So far oil production in February has not come to fruition, as some areas are blocking pipelines due to bad cold weather.