Oil Surges as Gulf Coast Rigs Close Ahead of Hurricane

Investing.com – Crude oil prices were higher on Tuesday, as oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico closed in anticipation of a hurricane.

Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE:) evacuated and shut down production at two oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico on Monday ahead of the approach of Tropical Storm Gordon, which is expected to come ashore as a hurricane on Tuesday night.

The storm drove oil prices higher in anticipation of tightening supply levels. West Texas rose 0.64% to $70.25 a barrel as of 10:29 AM ET (14:29 GMT). Meanwhile, futures, the benchmark for oil prices outside the U.S., increased 0.59% to $78.61.

Oil prices have been driven higher in the past few months as demand for oil outsrips supply and upcoming U.S. sanctions against Iran have also supported price increases. The financial sanctions against Iran will target the petroleum sector in November, when a global drop of crude supply is expected.

Increasing oil rigs in the U.S. also supported prices, as drillers added oil rigs for the first time in three weeks, increasing the rig count by 2 to 862, according to weekly Baker Hughes data.

U.S. trade disputes with its trade partners have also weighed on sentiment. Trade negotiations with Canada ended with no agreement on Friday, when the White House gave Congress a 90-day notice that a revised NAFTA deal with Mexico would go forward. Trade talks with Canada are expected to continue on Wednesday.

In other energy trading, fell 0.37% at $2.0210 a gallon, while was up 1.54% to $2.2776 a gallon. fell 2.43% to $2.845 per million British thermal units.

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