Oil prices dip as producers, refiners avoid worst of hurricane

Oil prices inched lower as Hurricane Laura passed the heart of the US oil industry in Louisiana and Texas without causing any widespread damage and companies began to restart operations.

Brent crude futures for October fell 4 cents to settle at $45.05 a barrel, before expiring on Friday. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 fell 7 cents to $42.97 a barrel.

Both benchmarks notched weekly gains of about 1.5%, with WTI rising for a fourth straight week. The benchmarks hit five-month highs during the week as US producers cut crude output ahead of Laura at a rate close to the level of 2005’s Hurricane Katrina.

Laura, since downgraded to a tropical depression, hit Louisiana early on Thursday with winds of 150 miles per hour (240 km per hour). The storm killed at least six people, damaged buildings and felled trees. Power was cut to hundreds of thousands in Louisiana and Texas, but refineries were spared from massive flooding.

Shut offshore crude oil production in the US-regulated northern Gulf of Mexico remained at 84.3%, or 1.55 million barrels per day (bpd), the US government said in a report.