Oil settles after strong weekly losses by Investing.com

Investing.com — Oil prices steadied on Monday as traders weighed the impact of a possible hurricane off the US Gulf Coast and gauged the market’s reaction to last week’s non-farm payrolls report.

By 10:14 ET (14:14 GMT), the contract added 0.3 percent to $71.28 a barrel, while futures (WTI) traded up 0.4 percent to $68.05 a barrel . Brent fell 10 percent to its lowest since December 2021 on Friday, while WTI fell to its lowest since June 2023, according to Reuters.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said over the weekend that a weather system in the Gulf of Mexico is expected to develop into a hurricane before hitting the northwest U.S. Gulf Coast — a region crucial to U.S. refining capacity.

Analysts pointed to recent supply disruptions in major oil producer Libya as another trend supporting prices, Reuters reported.

Elsewhere, the increased potential for further interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve following a weaker-than-expected jobs report in August helped support crude oil, although uncertainty still surrounds the size and pace of cuts. In theory, a drop in borrowing costs could boost economic activity and spur an increase in demand for oil.

Meanwhile, executives at global commodities traders Gunvor and Trafigura told the Asia Pacific Petroleum Conference in Singapore that oil prices could trade between $60 and $70, in part due to ongoing warm demand in China, the oil importer of top.

Analysts at ING said concerns around China were likely to lead to discussions at the conference about “what options (oil group OPEC+) has to try to stabilize the market”. Last week, OPEC+ announced it had agreed to delay a planned October production increase by two months in a bid to keep oil prices from falling.

“While the OPEC+ cuts leave the market slightly tighter for the rest of this year, this does not resolve the glut that is expected next year,” ING analysts said.

Reuters contributed to this report.