<p>Oil prices rose on Wednesday, extending gains from the previous session, as a hurricane disrupted US offshore oil and gas production and an industry report showed a big drop in US crude stockpiles.</p>.<p>Brent crude was trading up 15 cents, or 0.4%, at $40.68 a barrel by 0055 GMT, while US crude gained 18 cents, or 0.5%, to $38.46 a barrel. Both contracts rose by more than 2% on Tuesday.</p>.<p>More than 25% of US offshore oil and gas output was shut and export ports were closed on Tuesday as Hurricane Sally sat just off the US Gulf Coast.</p>.<p>"Our current estimate for the total outage associated with the Sally weather system is between 3 million and 6 million barrels of oil over approximately 11 days," Rystad Energy said in a note.</p>.<p>That is likely to help reduce stockpiles although refineries were also shut down, cutting demand for oil.</p>.<p>US crude oil inventories fell by 9.5 million barrels last week, although gasoline inventories increased, data from industry group the American Petroleum Institute showed on Tuesday.</p>.<p>Analysts had expected oil stocks to increase by 1.3 million barrels. Official data on US stockpiles is due out later on Wednesday and often conflicts with the industry figures.</p>.<p>Meanwhile, oil producers and traders are painting a bleak picture for a recovery in fuel demand globally as the Covid-19 pandemic rages on, hammering economies.</p>
<p>Oil prices rose on Wednesday, extending gains from the previous session, as a hurricane disrupted US offshore oil and gas production and an industry report showed a big drop in US crude stockpiles.</p>.<p>Brent crude was trading up 15 cents, or 0.4%, at $40.68 a barrel by 0055 GMT, while US crude gained 18 cents, or 0.5%, to $38.46 a barrel. Both contracts rose by more than 2% on Tuesday.</p>.<p>More than 25% of US offshore oil and gas output was shut and export ports were closed on Tuesday as Hurricane Sally sat just off the US Gulf Coast.</p>.<p>"Our current estimate for the total outage associated with the Sally weather system is between 3 million and 6 million barrels of oil over approximately 11 days," Rystad Energy said in a note.</p>.<p>That is likely to help reduce stockpiles although refineries were also shut down, cutting demand for oil.</p>.<p>US crude oil inventories fell by 9.5 million barrels last week, although gasoline inventories increased, data from industry group the American Petroleum Institute showed on Tuesday.</p>.<p>Analysts had expected oil stocks to increase by 1.3 million barrels. Official data on US stockpiles is due out later on Wednesday and often conflicts with the industry figures.</p>.<p>Meanwhile, oil producers and traders are painting a bleak picture for a recovery in fuel demand globally as the Covid-19 pandemic rages on, hammering economies.</p>