NEW YORK (AP) — Oil rose Thursday afternoon as concerns grew about the potential impact of Hurricane Irene on U.S. oil and gas supplies.
Benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude rose 62 cents at $85.78 per barrel in New York. Brent crude, which is used to price oil produced abroad, rose $1.10 to $111.25 per barrel in London.
East Coast refineries are bracing for the possibility that Hurricane Irene could disrupt operations beginning this weekend. Refineries in Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia produce nearly 8 percent of the country's gasoline and diesel fuel. If they shut down due to the storm, it may push fuel prices higher.
Irene is forecast to impact a wide area, from North Carolina to Canada, with winds as high as 120 miles an hour (193 kilometers an hour) and storm surge waves of 11 feet (3.35 meters) in some places. Some forecasters think Irene could be the worst hurricane to hit the Northeast in 50 years.
Gasoline pump prices increased nearly a penny on Thursday to a national average of $3.582 per gallon. A gallon of regular has fallen 40 cents since peaking in May near $4 per gallon, but it's still almost 89 cents more than a year ago.
In other energy trading, heating oil was virtually unchanged at $2.9656 per gallon and gasoline futures rose about a penny at $2.7671 per gallon. Natural gas was up 4.1 cents at $3.963 per 1,000 cubic feet after the government said the nation's supplies rose last week.