Oil prices rose on Thursday on concerns about possible supply disruptions in the Middle East, as a major storm moved into Florida and tensions between Israel and major oil producer Iran rose.
Brent crude futures rose 24 cents, or 0.3%, to $76.82 a barrel, while WTI futures rose 28 cents, or 0.4%, to $73.52 a barrel at 06:55 GMT.
Hurricane Milton has hit the world’s largest oil producer and consumer, the second major storm to hit Florida’s west coast, causing tornadoes and sea surges.
The hurricane has boosted demand for gasoline and about a quarter of gas stations have depleted their stocks, helping to support crude prices.
Investors were further buoyed by rising tensions between Israel and Iran, with Israel saying an attack on Iran would be “deadly, decisively and surprisingly.”
Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu about Israel’s plans for Iran in a 30-minute call on Wednesday. Concerns grew that Biden continued to discourage Israel from targeting its oil facilities but had little influence over Israel’s allies’ strategy.
Despite threats to the oil-producing Middle East region, concerns about demand continue to underpin the fundamental outlook. On Tuesday, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) lowered its demand forecast for 2025 due to weakening economic activity in China and North America.
On Wednesday, EIA data showed that crude oil inventories rose by 5.8 million barrels last week to 422.7 million barrels. That was a bigger increase than analysts had expected, but far less than what was forecast by the industry group the American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday.
However, oil demand has increased this month, helping to support prices.
In the U.S., gasoline demand rose by 800 kilowatts week-over-week. Across Asia, flight activity has recovered after being disrupted by multiple typhoons. In China, daily flight activity reached an eight-week peak.
With much of the travel-related demand now behind us, the focus is shifting to air-based demand growth in the coming weeks.
