Crude oil futures rallied on Thursday as flooding continued to disrupt refinery operations along the Gulf Coast, according to Bloomberg MarketWatch.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, October West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose $1.27, or 2.8%, to settle at $47.23 a barrel.
October Brent crude, the global benchmark, added $1.52, or 3%, to end trading at $52.38 a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
Crude got a boost on Thursday with the assumption that “refiners are willing to pay up for crude” amid strong refining margins, said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Price Futures Group.
The nation’s largest refinery — Motiva Enterprises’ Port Arthur, Texas facility — was shut Wednesday. The company said Thursday that it can’t provide any timeline for a restart, raising further concerns over a potential shortage of gasoline supplies.
Meanwhile, October natural gas rose 10.1 cents, or 3.4%, to $3.04 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange.