Nymex Overview: Oil Edges Higher; Hurricane Isaias in Focus -- OPIS

Oil futures were slightly higher around midday Friday following the previous day's sharp rally as market participants evaluated the impacts from shut-ins of offshore oil platforms and possible operational issues of two U.S. Gulf Coast oil refineries. At 11:50 a.m. ET, November NYMEX West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up around 50cts to $92/bbl, and December WTI was 35cts higher to $91.10/bbl. London-based December ICE Brent was up about 40cts to $104.70/bbl and January Brent was 35cts higher at $101.30/bbl. On Thursday, oil benchmarks rose $3-4/bbl after an attack on an oil tanker near Qatar raised fears that a wave of strikes on shipping is spreading far beyond the Strait of Hormuz. November NYMEX ULSD was down 9.8cts to $4.785/gal and December ULSD was 8.85cts lower to $4.628/gal. November RBOB was also down 1.4ct to $3.302/gal and December RBOB was 0.2ct to $3.1575/gal. Isaias, which strengthened into a major hurricane earlier Friday, has shut in offshore oil production platforms and could affect operations of two oil refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast. At Isaias' current path,.