The cold weather in February caused more US refinery shutdowns than Hurricane Harvey had caused, and reduced US oil refining capacity by one-third.
The five days of cold weather froze the instrumentation required to operate the production units and caused the closure of individual units or entire facilities at 25 refineries.
Before the refineries resumed operation on February 22, the daily production of six million barrels of national refining capacity had stopped.
Hurricane Harvey halted one-fifth of national treatment capacity in August 2017.
West Texas Intermediate oil has come under pressure in recent weeks as WTI futures remained below $ 4 compared to Brent futures.
The wider spread typically makes US-crude oil linked oil more attractive to foreign buyers compared to Brent links.
The US crude futures contract, due to be delivered in May, expires on April 20, triggering a three-day window for investors to rebalance positions known as cash.
China’s record Iranian crude oil imports in recent months have squeezed supply from rival producers, forcing oil sellers from countries such as Brazil, Angola, Russia and the US to lower prices and divert shipments to India and Europe.
US energy firms added oil and gas rigs for the fifth consecutive week for the first time since February, as rising oil prices in recent months have caused some drillers to return to the well.
An early indicator of future production, the number of oil and gas drilling rigs rose to 439 during the week of April 16, the highest level since April 2020.
This means that the number of equipment has increased by 80% since it dropped to a record low of 244 in August 2020. However, the total number is still 90 towers, or 17% below that time last year. .
U.S. oil rigs rose to 344, up seven this week, while gas rigs rose to 94, the highest since April 2020.
With oil demand recovering from the pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic of year ago, U.S. crude oil futures have increased by nearly 6% so far this month, after up 65% in the previous five months.
While prices have mostly been rising since October 2020, some energy companies say they plan to increase spending slightly in 2021 after cutting their drilling and completion spending in the past two years.
However, this spending growth remains small as most firms continue to focus on increasing cash flow, reducing debt and increasing shareholder returns rather than adding output.