Crude oil prices hit 16 week low while natural gas prices jump 5%

Crude oil prices dropped Wednesday to a 16-week low following the U.S. government shutdown.

While the shutdown affected some trading, traders also had more worries about the planned output increase next month by OPEC+ members.

Brent crude dropped 68 cents or 1.0% to close at $65.35 a barrel while West Texas Intermediate crude in the U.S. finished down 59 cents or 0.9% at $61.78 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Reuters reported they were the lowest closes for Brent since June 5 and for WTI since May 30.

But natural gas prices had a strong day with a nearly 5% gain. Prices closes at $3.462 MMBtu after a gain of $0.159 or 4.81%.

In other energy markets, U.S. gasoline futures closed at their lowest in almost a year.

Traders expect OPEC+ to boost production in November by about the same as the 500,000 barrels per day hike in September, even as U.S. and Asian demand start to decline, Rystad analyst Janiv Shah said.

Oklahoma energy stocks scored positive gains on Wednesday with at least two firms, Helmerich & Payne and Gulfport Energy seeing 5% boosts for the day. Three others, SandRidge Energy, Stardust Power and Unit Corporation each had 4% gains.