Oil prices rose on Monday after a cyberattack forced the shutdown of major fuel pipelines in the United States and raised concerns about supply disruption, outweighing rising coronavirus cases in Asia. Colonial Pipeline said on Sunday its main fuel lines remained offline after the attack that shut the system on Friday, but some smaller lines between terminals and delivery points were now operational. “The bullish developments in the US are hiding a worrying Covid-19 trend in Asia,” said Louise Dickson, analyst at Rystad Energy. Brent crude was up by $0.69, or 1%, at $68.97 a barrel by 1137 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose by $0.61, or 0.9%, to $65.51. Both benchmarks rose more than 1% last week, their second consecutive weekly gain. “If the pipelines were to remain out of action for any length of time, this would have far-reaching effects on the oil market not only in the US, but also in Europe,” said Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 11th, 2021.
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