Bloomberg Crude Oil Falls After Ida Dissipates, the U.S. Dollar Gains

Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil dropped as Tropical Depression Ida weakened, allowing workers to return to offshore platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, and as the dollar climbed.

Oil fell 0.5 percent after Ida blew ashore on the U.S. mainland today and deflated. Chevron Corp. said its Mississippi refinery was unaffected and Murphy Oil Corp. plans to resume output at an offshore platform today. The greenback’s gain curbed the appeal of commodities to investors.

“I doubt there was any severe damage caused by Ida,” said Bill O’Grady, chief market strategist at Confluence Investment Management in St. Louis. “There will probably be some impact on next week’s inventory data, but that’s it.”

Crude oil for December delivery fell 38 cents to settle at $79.05 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices have increased 77 percent this year.

Prices were down from the settlement after the American Petroleum Institute reported at 4:30 p.m. that U.S. crude-oil stockpiles increased 1.22 million barrels to 337.5 million. December oil dropped 75 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $78.68 a barrel in electronic trading at 4:31 p.m.

Ida made landfall this morning in Alabama. The storm’s sustained winds dropped to 35 miles (56 kilometers) per hour from 45 mph earlier, the National Hurricane Center reported earlier today.

Murphy plans to restart output today at the Medusa offshore platform in the Gulf, a company spokesman said. Production at the Thunder Hawk platform will resume tomorrow. more...