Oil Prices slumped on Monday, August 28 as global markets were hit by the dreaded Tropical Storm Harvey.
Harvey is the most powerful hurricane to hit Texas in more than 50 years, killing at least two people, causing large-scale flooding, and forcing the closure of Houston port as well as several refineries.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Harvey was moving away from the coast but was expected to linger close to the shore through Tuesday, and that floods would spread from Texas eastward to Louisiana.
Brent crude LCOc1 was down 12 cents at $52.29 per barrel.U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were down 52 cents at $47.35 a barrel.
These opposing price movements pushed the WTI discount versus Brent to as much as $5.06 per barrel, the widest in two years.
