US oil prices edge up in the aftermath of Harvey

US oil prices edged up on Tuesday as the gradual restart of refineries in the Gulf of Mexico that were shut by Hurricane Harvey raised demand for crude, their main feedstock.

The restart of many US refineries also ended a spike in gasoline prices, as initial fears of a serious supply crunch faded.

US West Texas Intermediate crude futures Clc1 were at $47.77 per barrel at 09:08 (US time), up 0.89 percent, from their last settlement.

Gasoline futures RBc1, by contrast, fell 3.50 percent from their last close to $1.68 per gallon, down from $2.17 a gallon on August 31 and back to levels last seen before Hurricane Harvey hit the US Gulf Coast and its large refining industry.

“Gasoline fell as refineries in Texas began to reopen,” said William O‘Loughlin, investment analyst at Rivkin Securities.

Texas on Monday edged towards recovery from the devastation of Hurricane Harvey as shipping channels, oil pipelines and refineries restarted some operations.

The Department of Energy said that eight US oil refineries with a total of 2.1 million barrels per day, or 11.4 percent of the total US refining capacity, were still shut down as of Monday afternoon.

Harvey hit the Texan coast late on August 25 and at its peak knocked out almost a quarter of the entire US refining capacity.

In international oil markets, Brent crude futures LCOc1 dipped 19 cents, or 0.40 percent, to $52.15 a barrel as traders pulled money out of oil and poured it into gold, an investor safe haven.