Oil prices rose on Monday amid a slowdown in the return of U.S. crude production, which has been hindered by severe cold weather, raising concerns about supply.
Prices had previously dropped by nearly 2%, with fears that refineries would take time to resume operations following a major freeze in the southern United States. After oil and gas production outages, it takes several days for oil fields to remove ice from valves, restart systems, and begin production again. Refining facilities and plants on the U.S. Gulf Coast suffered significant damage and may take up to three weeks to restore most of their operations, hampered by reduced water and gas pressure and power outages affecting restarts. One U.S. research center stated that with three-quarters of hydraulic fracturing crews idled, the likelihood of a quick resumption is low.
