Oil held over $96 a barrel in early trading Friday as forecasters kept an eye on Tropical Storm Isaac, which is likely to move into the Gulf of Mexico next week as a low-level hurricane, Bloomberg reported.
Crude futures rose 34 cents in early trading Friday to $96.61 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures have closed over $96 every day but one in the past week.
Oil closed at $97.26 a barrel on Wednesday, its highest Nymex closing price since May 7, Bloomberg figures showed.
Isaac, currently a tropical storm off the southern coast of Haiti, is expected to strengthen and make landfall on the U.S. Gulf Coast between Florida and Texas as a Category 1 hurricane next week, according the National Hurricane Center. Category 1 is the lowest of five storm-strength categories.
While a relatively low threat to Gulf Coast refineries, which make up almost a third of U.S. oil production, those facilities could lose 2 to 3 million barrels of production due to precautionary shutdowns because of the storm, Bloomberg reported, citing analysts.
Diesel and gasoline prices have risen steadily for the past seven weeks, and the Department of Energy will release its weekly survey of pump prices Monday afternoon in Washington.
