By Colleen Howe
BEIJING (Reuters) – Oil prices remained little changed on Tuesday morning after a hurricane that hit a major U.S. oil-producing hub in Texas caused less damage than expected.
Brent futures fell 4 cents to $85.71 a barrel by 01:13 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 5 cents to $82.28.
Although oil refining activity has slowed and some production sites have been evacuated, major refineries along the U.S. Gulf Coast appeared to have suffered minimal impacts from Hurricane Beryl, which weakened into a tropical storm after hitting the Texas coast.
That eased market concerns about the risk of supply disruptions in Texas, where 40% of U.S. crude oil is produced.
Major oil shipping ports around Corpus Christi, Galveston and Houston were closed ahead of the storm. The Corpus Christi Ship Channel reopened Monday and the Port of Houston was projected to resume operations Tuesday afternoon.
Market participants are also keeping an eye on the situation in the Middle East for further trade signals. Oil prices fell 1% on Monday amid hopes that a possible ceasefire agreement in Gaza could ease concerns about disruptions to global oil supplies.
Senior US officials were in Egypt for talks on Monday, but gaps remained between the two sides, the White House said, and Hamas said a new Israeli push into Gaza threatened the potential deal.
Last week, Hamas dropped its demand that Israel commit to a permanent ceasefire, which Israelis say paved the way for a deal.
(Reporting by Colleen Howe; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
