By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Oil was down on Monday morning in Asia, dropping for a second straight session as a Norwegian strike reached a conclusion and U.S. production resumed as Hurricane Delta weakened.
Brent Oil Futures were down 0.65% to $42.57 by 11:27 PM ET (3:27 AM GMT) and Crude Oil WTI Futures fell 0.67% to $40.33. Both indexes remained above the $40-mark, with front-month prices for both gaining more than 9%, Brent futures’ highest weekly rise since June, during the previous week.
But these gains were reversed on Friday, as a 10-day strike in Norway ended after oil firms reached a wages agreement with labor union officials. The strike had threatened to cut Norwegian oil and gas output by around 25%.
In the Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Delta was downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone by Sunday after delivering the greatest impact to the area’s energy production in 15 years.
Workers were back at production platforms by Sunday, with Total SA (NYSE:TOT) continuing to restart 225,500 barrels worth of capacity at its Port Arthur, Texas facility on Sunday. However, the largest U.S. oil products pipeline, Colonial Pipeline, was forced to shut its main distillate fuel line after Delta disrupted the power.
Some investors were optimistic about the black liquid’s prospects.
“We had good support for both Brent and WTI futures on the back of some supply concerns,” CMC Markets chief market strategist Michael McCarthy told Reuters.
“Given that the hurricane season in the U.S. has just started, there’s potential for that to keep prices firm,” he added.