By Gina Lee
Oil prices went up on Monday as Hurricane Ida caused the shutdown of offshore oil platforms.
Brent Oil Futures rose 0.38% to $71.97 by 11:04 PM ET (3:04 AM GMT), after rising more than 11% the past week over predictions of oil production halting. Crude Oil WTI Futures inched down 0.07% to $68.69.
U.S. oil gained 53 cents or 0.8% at $69.27 a barrel on Monday, as it experienced a jump of over 10% last week.
91% of crude production, or 1.65 million barrels-a-day's worth, was halted as Ida headed towards oil production facilities in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, according to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.
By midday Saturday, 290 offshore facilities were evacuated and 11 drill vessels moved. Ida hit the coast near Port Fourchon, Louisiana on Sunday as an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane.
The hundreds of miles of new levees built around nearby New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina will now be put to the test.
"This is one of the strongest storms to make landfall here in modern times," Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said at a press conference.