Natural gas futures contracts led to an increase in energy prices on Tuesday as large parts of the U.S. struggled with sub-zero temperatures and the blockade of barriers hit several states.
March futures contracts for natural gas HOH21,
rose 5.5% to $ 3,073 per million British thermal units, while RBN21 petrol,
climbed 5.3% to $ 1.7813 per liter. And March heating oil RBH21,
increased by almost 3% to $ 1.8235 per liter.
The rise in prices occurred when the Southwest Power Pool, a 14-state electricity services group, ordered utilities to begin rolling out power outages to tackle a depleted supply of reserve energy. That’s when a winter storm swept through the Ohio Valley to the Gulf Coast of the United States, bringing icy temperatures south of San Antonio, Texas.
Extreme winter weather has forced Texas generators offline and caused price increases to rise. The Texas Electric Reliability Board estimated that two million people were without power Monday night, reports The Wall Street Journal. President Joe Biden, at the request of Governor Greg Abbott, declared a state of emergency in Texas and paved the way for first aid to reach the state. The storm has so far killed two people in Texas.
The rare storm that hit Texas also raised concerns about oil supply disruptions amid reports of some refineries closing due to the cold.
The freeze also caused a sharp rise in oil futures prices on Monday. Regular trading was closed due to the Presidential Day holiday.
Crude prices in March CL.1,
climbed 61 cents, or 1% to $ 60.08 a barrel, after rising $ 60 a barrel on Monday for the first time since January 2020. Brent crude prices BRN00,
reached 27 cents to $ 63.47 a barrel, which also peaked in January 2020.
Read: Oil ends Friday’s session higher over tensions in Middle East, with world prices for the week up more than 5%
“But because the increase in energy demand in Texas and a drop in daily supply to a million barrels is temporary, levels above $ 60 seem attractive to top sellers,” warns Swissquote senior analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya in a comment. to customers. . Correcting a downside could easily bring prices below $ 55 a barrel and could not hurt the positive trend in oil prices over the medium term. ‘