Crude oil rose for the first time in three days in New York as a storm near Cuba prompted evacuations from rigs and production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.
Tropical Storm Fay, which was centred 200 miles southeast of Havana, Cuba, could strengthen to a hurricane before striking Florida's northwestern coast tomorrow, the National Hurricane Centre said.
Gains were limited on speculation slowing US economic growth will trim fuel demand.
Crude oil for September delivery rose as much as 98 cents, or 0.9 per cent, to $114.75 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was trading at $114.73 at 8.35am in Singapore. The contract earlier fell as low as $113.25. Brent crude for October settlement rose as much as 63 cents, or 0.6 per cent, to $113.18 a barrel on London's ICE Futures Europe exchange at the same time.
The northern Gulf of Mexico accounts for more than a fifth of US oil production.
Storms routinely disrupt tanker traffic and production in the region in the North Atlantic hurricane season running June through November. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina wrecked platforms and refineries around New Orleans, prompting an international release of fuel from reserve stockpiles.
Royal Dutch Shell evacuated about 360 non-essential staff from the eastern Gulf the past two days. However, production hasn't been affected. Transocean, the world's largest offshore oil driller, said it evacuated 130 workers and suspended operations at several rigs in the Gulf as a precaution because of the storm.
New York oil futures fell 1.1 per cent to settle at $113.77 on August 15. Earlier in the session it touched $111.34, a 15-week low, as the dollar rose for a fifth week against the euro and the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) warned of risks to world demand from the slowing global economy.
Bloomberg