Oil prices have pared early gains, falling back from more than three-week highs reached earlier in the session, as a powerful hurricane slammed into the U.S. Gulf coast, forcing shutdowns and evacuations of hundreds of offshore oil platforms.
Brent was up 5 cents at 72.75 dollars a barrel. It rose more than 11 percent last week in anticipation of disruptions to oil production from Ida.
U.S. Oil turned negative and was down by 31 cents at 68.43 dollars a barrel, having jumped a little over 10 percent over last week.
U.S. Gasoline prices rose more than 3 percent at one point as power outages added to refinery closures on the gulf coast and the focus switched to crude products.
Crude prices also eased in anticipation of a likely quick recovery in oil production.
