Oil inches up after 5% slide overnight as hurricane shuts U.S. output

Shafaq news/ Oil prices on Thursday recovered slightly from a 5% slump in the previous session, gaining support from the prospect of tighter short-term supply with two-thirds of U.S. output shut in the Gulf of Mexico as Hurricane Zeta slammed Louisiana.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 futures edged up 10 cents, or 0.28%, to $37.50 a barrel by 0520 GMT, while Brent crude LCOc1 futures were up 6 cents at $39.70 a barrel.

Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Wednesday provided further evidence of the growing glut: U.S. crude stockpiles rose by 4.3 million barrels in the week to Oct. 23, a bigger increase than expected

Surging COVID-19 cases in Europe, which have led to new restrictions keeping people off the roads, cast a shadow over the market. Oil fell in Asia’s mid-morning before edging up.

France will require people to stay home for all but essential activities as of Friday, while Germany will shut bars, restaurants and theatres from Nov. 2 through the end of the month.

OPEC+ plans to tapering their production cuts in January 2021 from a current 7.7 million barrels per day (bpd) to around 5.7 million bpd.