NEW YORK -- Oil surged nearly 4 percent Wednesday on the expectation that tropical storms will further hamper oil production in the Gulf of Mexico and squeeze supplies.
Benchmark U.S. crude on Wednesday jumped $3.32, or 3.9 percent, to finish at $89.34 per barrel in New York.
The government said Tropical Storm Lee forced oil companies to evacuate as many as 232 platforms over the weekend, more than a third of those operating in the region. The evacuations cut production of about 4 percent of the oil consumed daily in the U.S.
