By Georgina McCartney
(Reuters) – Oil was steady in early trade on Tuesday as investors weighed supply disruptions from Tropical Storm Francine and the potential for further output cuts against persistently weak Chinese demand.
futures rose 16 cents, or 0.22%, to $72.00 a barrel by 0004 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 12 cents, or 0.17%, to $68.83 a barrel.
Both benchmarks gained around 1% at Monday’s settlement.
The U.S. Coast Guard ordered the closure of all operations at Brownsville and other small Texas ports on Monday evening, as Tropical Storm Francine barrelled across the Gulf.
The port of Corpus Christi remained open but with restrictions.
The tropical storm is forecast to strengthen significantly over the next couple of days, and was expected to become a hurricane on Monday night or Tuesday morning, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC).
Exxon Mobil (NYSE:) said it shut-in output at its Hoover offshore production platform, while Shell (LON:) paused drilling operations at two platforms. Chevron (NYSE:) also began shutting in oil and gas output, at two of its offshore production platforms.
“At least 125,000 barrels per day…
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