Trump’s Return to White House Boosts Oil Prices

Global oil prices rose on Tuesday following reports of several oil supplies constraints amid President Trump’s return to the White House after COVID-19 treatment in hospital.

The Brent crude oil, against which Nigerian oil is priced, gained 82 cents or 2 percent to $42.11 per barrel.

The US West Texas Intermediate crude also recorded an exact increase to $40.06 per barrel.

“Besides Norway, there could also be production outages in the Gulf of Mexico this week, where another hurricane has developed,” Commerzbank said.

Supply disruptions in Norway and a new hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico boosted prices as investors are predicting a further decline in the global oil supply and expected the return of President Trump to the White House to boost investors’ confidence ahead of November presidential election in the US.

However, experts have said the Norway supply challenges will not do much to hurt global supply as only 330,000 barrels would be impacted by the disruptions while Libya has increased production by 290,000 per day following the agreement reached by the government and rebels.

Still, the extent of the hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico would determine how much oil supplies would be cut off the global market.