Crude oil futures were higher in mid-morning Asian trade Feb. 4, extending strong overnight gains and sending both benchmarks further above the $90/b handle as a deep freeze sweeps across the US and shuts in production.
At 10:53 am Singapore time (0253 GMT), the ICE April Brent futures contract was up 47 cents/b (0.52%) from the previous close at $91.58/b, while the NYMEX March light sweet crude contract rose 63 cents/b (0.7%) at $90.90/b. Oil prices had pushed to fresh highs overnight on the heels of media reports that some Permian basin producers had shut in production Feb. 3 because of freezing temperatures and ice disrupting trucking operations. “WTI crude surged over the $90[/b] level after an arctic blast made its way to Texas and disrupted some oil production in the Permian Basin,” OANDA’s senior market analyst […]