Oil jumps nearly 4% on refinery outages in US

Crude oil futures surged nearly 4% on Monday as inclement weather forced several oil refineries to shut last week. The shutdowns elimated approximately 4 million barrel/day oil output across the US. This added to the already tight suppy outlook which has been squeezed by Saudi Arabia’s voluntary output cut that started early this month.

Energy markets also found support from recent media reports showing that it could take several weeks for oil production to fully resume. Yet, a few companies including Motiva Chemicals and ExxonMobil reportedly began restart process at their refineries at the time of publication.

On Monday, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for March climbed $2.33/bbl to settle at $61.49/bbl on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Global benchmark Brent oil for April settled higher at $65.24/bbl, sharply up by $2.33/bbl from its previous closing level.

The ongoing rally has been extended into an intraday trading on Tuesday, with WTI and Brent oil futures trading visibly higher at around $66.50/bbl and $61.49/bbl, respectively, at the time of writing.

ChemOrbis Price Wizard shows that both crude futures are hovering at around 13 month-highs.