Singapore — Flooding from tropical storm Harvey caused large-scale US refinery outages on Tuesday, while crude prices rose due to supply disruptions in Colombia and Libya. Refinery shutdowns from the storm helped push US petrol prices to 2015 highs of $1.7799 a gallon on Monday, although they receded slightly to $1.7320 a gallon by 1.38am GMT on Tuesday. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 23c, or 0.5%, to $46.80 a barrel, after falling more than 2% in the previous session. On international oil markets, Brent crude futures were up 20c, or 0.4%, at $52.09 a barrel. Huge floods caused by Harvey forced several refineries to close along the US Gulf Coast, while heavy rains were spreading into the greater Houston area, which has already been hit by catastrophic flooding. "Harvey’s downpours will continue over Texas and Louisiana and slowly drift northward through the end of August, exacerbating the unprecedented flooding disaster that continues to unfold," said meteorolog...
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