Brent, US crude rise

Brent crude rose a fifth straight session on Monday as equities rallied on a rise in consumer spending, strong financials and relief that damage from Hurricane Irene was less severe than expected. US consumer spending rose at its fastest pace in five months in July, a Commerce Department report said, helping boost equities on Wall Street and pushing up the S&P 500 index more than 2 percent.
"The spending data helped Wall Street take off, and oil rose on the hope some of that spending will be on gasoline," said Phil Flynn, analyst at PFGBest Research in Chicago. "The weaker dollar index also was supportive, along with the fact that refiners didn't seem to get hurt by Irene," Flynn added. Global equities advanced ahead of Wall Street's open on hopes the Federal Reserve might eventually launch a third round of quantitative easing (QE3) after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke left the door open for further action in a speech on Friday at an annual event in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Brokers and analysts said crude futures were supported by news that most US oil refiners and energy companies were restoring operations after Hurricane Irene, though at least one crude unit was shut because of flooded pumps. US gasoline futures fell and heating oil futures only nudged higher after East Coast refineries did not experience catastrophic damage like facilities on the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. Widespread flooding and power outages were also expected to dampen fuel demand after Irene. Trading volumes were thinner due to a public holiday in the UK and New York-area traders out in the aftermath of the storm. Brent volumes were 63 percent and US volumes 49 percent below 30-day averages.
Brent October crude rose 52 cents to settle at $111.88 a barrel, after reaching $112.73, highest intraday price since August 4. US October crude, up a third straight session, rose $1.90, or 2.23 percent, to settle at $87.27 a barrel, having reached $87.62, highest intraday price since August 17.
Brent's premium to US crude was below $25 a barrel, well off its record $26.69 on August 19. The US East Coast oil industry began to assess the impact of Hurricane Irene's weekend brush with the coast. A crude unit at the Girard Point section of Sunoco Inc's Philadelphia refinery shut because of flooded crude-charge pumps, lowering some production, a source said. Meanwhile, the Marcus Hook section of the refinery was increasing rates. ConocoPhillips Inc's 238,000-barrels-per-day (bpd) Bayway refinery in Linden, New Jersey, was restarting, a source familiar with refinery operations said.
Libyan rebel forces converged on Muammar Qadhafi's hometown of Sirte, hoping to solidify their revolution as they continued to root out forces still loyal to Qadhafi. Libya's new government plans to restart production at two eastern oil fields in mid-September and resume shipping oil from Tobruk by the end of September. Ras Lanuf, Libya's largest oil refinery, is intact despite recent intense fighting, and staff are preparing a restart, its general manager told Reuters. Libya produced about 1.6 million bpd of crude oil before the civil war.