Oil prices rose slightly in early trading on Thursday, after a sell-off sparked by the U.S. presidential election, as risks to oil supplies from a Donald Trump presidency and Hurricane Rafael outweighed a strong dollar and high inventories.
Market movement
Brent crude futures rose 26 cents, or 0.35 percent, to $75.18 a barrel by 0125 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose 16 cents, or 0.22 percent, to $71.85, according to Reuters.
Trump's election initially sparked a sell-off that sent oil prices down more than $2 as the dollar rose to its highest level since September 2022.
Donald Trump is expected to return to his maximum pressure policy of imposing sanctions on Iranian oil. That could cut supply by as much as 1 million barrels per day, Energy Aspect estimates, although analysts warn it will be difficult to stop Iranian oil flowing to China.
Trump also imposed tougher sanctions on Venezuelan oil in his first term, measures that President Joe Biden's administration briefly rolled back before later reimposing.
In North America, Hurricane Rafael strengthened to a Category 3 storm on Wednesday, shutting down about 17 percent of crude oil production, or 304,418 barrels per day, in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.
The US Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday that US crude inventories rose by 2.1 million barrels to 427.7 million in the week ending November 1, compared with expectations for a rise of 1.1 million barrels.
