Keystone restart timetable unclear; traders worry about supply
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Dec 13 Reuters Oil extended gains on Tuesday as a key pipeline bringing supply to the United States remained shut, adding to concerns about potential tightness in the world39;s biggest crude consumer.
Brent crude futures rose 1.33, or 1.7, to 79.32 per barrel by 0725 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate WTI crude futures gained 1.15, or 1.6, to 74.32.
Both benchmarks settled up more than 2 in the previous session.
Crude oil gained as supplyside issues offset concerns of weaker demand, said ANZ Research analysts Brian Martin and Daniel Hynes, in a note to clients on Tuesday.
Concern about Russian oil output have also arisen since President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russia could cut production.
The closure of TC Energy Corp39;s Keystone Pipeline, which ships 620,000 barrels per day of Canadian crude from Alberta to the United States, has raised the prospect that inventories at the Cushing, Oklahoma, storage hub will decline. Cushing is also the delivery point for the WTI crude futures contract.
Keystone has remained shut since a 14,000barrel leak in the U.S. state of Kansas was reported on Dec. 7. TC Energy has not released a timeline for a restart of the line, which carries crude to refineries in the Midwest and Gulf Coast.
Expectations are that the pipeline closure will cause U.S. crude…