LONDON, May 23: Oil prices leapt on Tuesday on forecasts of a potentially devastating Atlantic hurricane season on the US Gulf Coast that could push prices beyond $90 per barrel, dealers said.

New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in July, jumped $1.44 to $71.40 per barrel in pit deals.

In London, Brent North Sea crude for July delivery soared $1.43 to $70.78 per barrel in electronic trade.

In Tuesday trade, oil futures moved higher “as the US government predicted another active Atlantic hurricane season”, according to analysts at the Sucden brokerage firm in London.

New York crude had fallen as low as $67.42 on Monday, last seen April 7, mirroring losses across all major commodity markets.

Crude prices halted their decline late Monday after US weather experts predicted as many as 10 Atlantic hurricanes in upcoming months, four of which could hit the United States.

This year’s hurricane season — starting in June and ending in November — would be “very active”, but less severe than in 2005, according to a report issued by the Miami-based National Hurricane Centre (NHC).

The NHC said that it anticipated 13-16 tropical storms — of which between 8-10 could transform into hurricanes.

Monday’s announcement roiled the global crude market because more than 20 per cent of oil production facilities in the rig-heavy US Gulf Coast were knocked offline by the devastating 2005 hurricane season — the most active on record — which pushed crude futures to then-historic highs.

Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the city of New Orleans on August 29, 2005, was the costliest US hurricane on record. It was followed by Rita in September and Wilma in October.

“When the hurricane season starts, the US buyers will start to buy more and this could send prices above $90,” said Tetsu Emori, a Tokyo-based commodities strategist with Mitsui Bussan Futures.

Aside from the US weather report, market participants continued to fret over simmering geopolitical tensions in major crude producers Iran and Nigeria.—AfP