Crude Oil Prices Rise Slightly; Emily Bypasses Most Gulf Oil Rigs

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fter falling in early trading, crude oil prices rose slightly Tuesday as Hurricane Emily was bearing down on the Mexico-Texas border and forecast to miss most U.S. oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, Bloomberg reported.

U.S. Gulf output was down by almost 13,000 barrels a day as of yesterday, according to the Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service, accounting for only about 0.9% of U.S. offshore production.

Benchmark light sweet crude oil futures rose 14 cents Tuesday to close at $57.46 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Bloomberg reported.

After pounding Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula Monday, forecasters expected Emily, which was downgraded to a Category 1 from a Category 3 hurricane, to hit northeastern Mexico as early as Tuesday night, the Associated Press reported.

Southern Texas was also threatened, and the National Hurricane Center posted hurricane warnings along both sides of the Mexico-Texas border.