Supply concerns sparked by reports of a fire at a large Russian oil refinery and new attacks by Houthi militants on ships sent crude and refined product futures higher at midday Thursday.

The NYMEX March West Texas Intermediate crude contract was up $1.40 to $76.50/bbl as of 12:05 p.m. ET and the April WTI contract was $1.35 higher at $76.35/bbl. London-based ICE Brent crude futures for March delivery were $1.55 higher at $81.55/bbl and April Brent was up by $1.50 to $81.10/bbl.

The NYMEX March ULSD contract was up 8.45cts to $2.7395/gal and February ULSD was 8.3cts higher at $2.7650/gal. The more active NYMEX March RBOB contract was 2.1cts higher at $2.2600/gal and front-month February RBOB added 2.05cts to $2.23/gal.

A fire was reported overnight at Rosneft's 240,000 b/d refinery in the southern Russian town of Tuapse.

Reuters early Thursday morning reported that the fire had been extinguished and said the facility supplies fuel to Turkey, China, Malaysia and Singapore. The extent of the damage was unclear.

Crude and refined product futures were also finding support after global shipping company Maersk said explosions forced two ships carrying U.S. military supplies to back away from the Bab-al-Mandab strait off the Yemen coast, which is also one of the chokepoints for global oil supply.

In U.S. spot refined product markets, Los Angeles CARBOB cash prices were off by about 4cts/gal, putting prices about 2cts below values in New York Harbor.

This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

--Reporting by Frank Tang, ftang@opisnet.com; Editing by Jeff Barber, jbarber@opisnet.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 25, 2024 12:53 ET (17:53 GMT)