WTI oil price ends week at $85 ahead of Hurricane Irene

WTI oil futures end a bullish week trading around $85 a barrel after broad swings on Friday as traders bought back into oil futures ahead of Hurricane Irene’s path to New York continues to stir markets.

WTI Oil Futures – Closing Price

US Light crude oil futures for October 2011 delivery ended the week’s trading session at $85.37 a barrel on the NYMEX, $2.66 higher than last weeks closing price of $82.71 a barrel.

Hurricane Irene – Oil

Energy companies on Friday activated emergency plans as the densely populated US East Coast braced for blackouts from Hurricane Irene that could affect millions.

Oil refineries in the US Northeast scaled back operations and pipeline operators warned of potential delays for fuel distribution. The US Coast Guard said it had no plans yet to shut the New York Harbour, but energy traders said delays could affect the delivery hub for millions of barrels a day in crude and oil products, by pipeline, barge and ship.

Any closure of the New York Harbour could create backlogs of ships waiting to deliver crude or fuels. Oil terminals in the US East Coast region had around nine days of crude supply on hand last week.

Petrol demand, not supply, may prove to be the casualty of Hurricane Irene, which promises a washout late summer weekend for 20 percent of Americans as it makes its way up the East Coast, analysts at JPMorgan said in a report. “We assign a low probability of a major refining interruption lasting more than a week, and shipping problems will likely unwind in the course of a few days,” the bank said.

“The range of possibilities from this storm is enormous. We could see anything from blackouts putting the entire Northeast in the dark, to only very localized problems.” said energy analyst Tim Evans at Citi Futures in New York.

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WTI oil price ends week at $85 ahead of Hurricane Irene