Oil prices rebound as focus shifts to Hurricane Francine impact

Investing.com -- Oil prices rebounded Wednesday from a deep slide a day earlier as traders shifted focus to potential supply disruptions from the impact of Hurricane Francine, which is set make landfall later in the evening. 

At 1:39 p.m. ET (1539 GMT), Brent oil futures expiring in November rose 2.3% to $70.77 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate crude futures ticked up by 2.8% to $67.56 per barrel.  Francine becomes a hurricane, Gulf of Mexico production impacted

Francine became a category-one hurricane on Tuesday evening, with the storm set to make landfall in Louisiana on Wednesday. 

The storm is set to cut a path of destruction across the American mid-South in the coming days, and saw a slew of oil and gas producers halt output in the Gulf of Mexico, which accounts about 15% of U.S. total crude output. 

The region accounts for about 15% of U.S. oil production, with any disruptions in production likely to tighten supplies in the near-term.  US inventories increased by fewer than expected

Data from the Energy Information Administration reported U.S. oil inventories increased 833,000 barrels in the week to Sept. 6, against expectations for an increase of 900,000.

Gasoline inventories, meanwhile, increased by 2.3M barrels confounding expectations for a draw of 400,000 barrels. While distillate stocks increased by 2.3M, well above the 300,000 barrel build economists had expected.  

(Scott Kanowsky, Ambar Warrick contributed to this report.)

Source: Investing.com