Crude oil prices pulled back below USD 80 a barrel in Asian trade today on profit taking after striking fresh record peaks overnight due to a hurricane in the United States, dealers said.
At 3:20 pm (1250 IST) New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for October delivery, dropped 42 cents to USD 79.67 a barrel from its record close of USD 80.09 in late US trades yesterday.
The October contract hit a new intraday high of USD 80.20 yesterday, two cents higher than Wednesday’s record, as Hurricane Humberto battered Texas and dragged on across Louisiana as a tropical storm.
Oil prices surged in US trades on fears the storm could damage oil production facilities in the US Gulf Coast.
Brent North Sea crude for October delivery fell 17 cents to USD 76.95.
Victor Shum, a Singapore-based analyst with energy consultancy Purvin and Gertz, said crude oil prices hit new record peaks after the storm cut off power supplies to a number of refineries in the US Gulf of Mexico region.
But prices retreated after investors judged the damage had been limted, he said.
“The shutdown of the refineries is likely to be very temporary and inevitably there will be profit-taking after the record highs,” Shum said.
But he said prices will remain under pressure in the near-term because September is the peak hurricane month in the United States, the world’s biggest energy consumer.