Oil Settles Above $75 After Slow Return of US Supplies

Oil prices fell on Friday, September 17, but settled above $75 a barrel and remained on track for a weekly gain of more than 3 percent thanks to a slow recovery in US production after two hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico.

Brent crude futures fell 27 cents, or 0.36 percent, to $75.40 a barrel, after rising 21 cents yesterday.

West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 39 cents, or 0.54 percent, to $ 72.22, after settling unchanged in the previous session.

The dollar rose to a three-week high on Friday, making dollar-denominated crude oil imports more expensive for countries using other currencies.

And 28 percent of US crude production in the Gulf of Mexico was still suspended as of Thursday, two and a half weeks after Hurricane Ida.

Meanwhile, preliminary data from the US Energy Information Administration showed that US crude exports in September fell to between 2.34 and 2.62 million barrels per day from 3 million barrels per day in late August.