2021.09.1409:39:00UTC+00Oil Extends Gains For Third Day On Fears Of Supply Disruptions

Oil rose for a third day Tuesday to hover near a six-week high, as energy firms brace for another storm just weeks after Hurricane Ida wreaked havoc on the Gulf Coast.

Benchmark Brent crude futures climbed 0.8 percent to $74.11 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 0.7 percent at $70.94.

Nicholas made landfall on the Texas coast as a Category 1 hurricane early today, with 75 mph winds and threatening to bring up to 18 inches of rain to parts of the state, forecasters said.

Nicholas, which was downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm after making landfall along the Texas coast, still had the power to cause "life-threatening flash floods in the deep south in the next couple of days," the National Hurricane Center said.

The increase in the price of crude oil also came as OPEC raised the outlook for oil demand in 2022.

In its monthly oil report, the group said it expected oil demand to average 100.8 million barrels per day in 2022, compared with just over 100 million in 2019, before the pandemic took hold.

Separately, the International Energy Agency (IEA) wrote in its monthly oil report that demand will rebound by a sharp 1.6 million barrels per day (bpd) in October, and will continue to grow until end-year.

The IEA forecast a robust rebound in the market from the fourth quarter of the year citing "strong pent-up demand and continued progress in vaccination programs".