NEW YORK, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Oil prices rose modestly in a see-saw session on Tuesday, as concerns about the global consumption outlook counterbalanced the struggle by big OPEC producers to pump enough supply to meet growing demand. Both benchmarks were at one point up by $1 per barrel, but Brent crude pared gains and settled just up 44 cents at $74.36 a barrel, after falling by almost 2% on Monday. The October West Texas Intermediate (WTI) contract , which expired on Tuesday, rose 27 cents to settle at $70.56 a barrel, after dropping 2.3% in the previous session. The more active November contract rose 35 cents a barrel to $70.49. Brent and the November WTI contract earlier reached session highs of $75.18 a barrel and $71.48 per barrel, respectively.   ''It seems to be a very nervous trade today,'' said Phil Flynn, senior analyst at Price Futures group in Chicago. ''It's a little bit of ongoing concerns about the potential impact of demand going forward.'' The TASS news agency said Russia believes global oil demand may not recover to its 2019 peak before the pandemic, as the energy balance shifts. However, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies including Russia (OPEC+) struggled to pump enough oil in August to meet current consumption as the world recovers from the coronavirus pandemic. Several countries appeared to have produced less than expected as part of the OPEC+ agreement - suggesting a supply gap could grow. read more Investors across financial assets have been rocked by fallout from the China Evergrande (3333.HK) crisis that has harmed asset values in risk markets like equities. read more   ''Traders worried that it could trigger a domino effect in China’s major debt-driven companies, and a rollover bearish effect for stocks and commodity prices,'' said Nishant Bhushan, oil markets analyst at Rystad Energy. ''However, given that all Chinese major banks and lending institutions are controlled by the government, there is a ray of hope in the market that the second biggest economy in the world would be able to absorb shock waves from the Evergrande.'' In addition, the U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to start tightening monetary policy, which could cut investor tolerance for riskier assets such as oil. Fed policymakers began a two-day meeting Tuesday. read more U.S. oil production is still recovering from hurricanes that hit the Gulf Coast region. Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L), the largest U.S. Gulf of Mexico oil producer, said on Monday that damage to offshore transfer facilities from Hurricane Ida will cut production into early next year. read more   About 18% of the U.S. Gulf's oil and 27% of its natural gas production remained offline on Monday, more than three weeks after Ida. U.S. crude oil, gasoline and distillate inventories fell last week, according to market sources, citing American Petroleum Institute figures on Tuesday, as numerous refineries and offshore drilling facilities remained shut following Hurricane Ida. Crude stocks fell by 6.1 million barrels for the week ended Sept. 17. Gasoline inventories fell by 432,000 barrels and distillate stocks fell by 2.7 million barrels, the data showed, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Official U.S. government data is due on Wednesday. read more

Sept 14 (Reuters) - Oil prices ended largely unchanged on Tuesday as tropical storm Nicholas brought heavy rain and power outages in Texas but caused less damage to U.S. energy infrastructure than Hurricane Ida caused earlier this month. Brent crude settled up 9cents to$73.60 a barrel after hitting a session high of $74.28. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude settled up 1 cent, at $70.46, after touching a high of $71.22. More than 39% of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico's production of crude and natural gas remained shut on Tuesday, the regulator Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) said. Nicholas made landfall in Texas on Monday and was to reach Louisiana on Wednesday, bringing more floods and heavy rains to the Gulf's oil facilities. ''The Gulf situation is not resolving itself quickly,'' said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital LLC in New York.   Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) shut production at an offshore oil platform due to heavy winds. Vessel traffic at some energy hubs was halted due to difficult weather conditions. ''There's going to be import-export issues because Houston is in a semi-flood zone,'' said Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho. Nicholas is the second major storm to threaten the U.S. Gulf region in recent weeks, bringing heavy rains to the Deep South and causing power outages. Still, most Texas refineries were operating normally and Texas utilities were restoring power to customers who suffered outages. read more The Colonial pipeline, the largest U.S. fuel pipeline, partially resumed operations after shutting due to a power outage early in the day.   Oil turned negative during the session after new data from the U.S. Labor Department showed inflation cooling and as worries receded about the storm's impact on the energy sector. read more After three months of declining global oil demand, rollouts of COVID-19 vaccines should rekindle appetite for oil that was suppressed by pandemic restrictions, especially in Asia, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday. The IEA sees a demand rebound of 1.6 million barrels per day (bpd) in October and continued growth until the end of the year. Overall, the agency lowered its 2021 global oil demand growth forecast by 105,000 bpd to 5.2 million bpd but raised its 2022 figure by 85,000 bpd to 3.2 million bpd.   These forecasts are below those of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which expects demand to grow by about 5.96 million bpd this year and 4.15 million bpd next year. read more Reuters Graphics Protesters blocked an oil tanker from loading at the Libyan terminal of Es Sider on Tuesday, the National Oil Corp's (NOC) media office and an engineer at the port said. Details on China's plans to sell crude from strategic reserves pressured prices. China's state reserves administration said it would auction about 7.4 million barrels of crude on Sept. 24. read more

SINGAPORE, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Oil prices climbed on Monday to a one-week high in a second straight session of gains as concerns over U.S. supplies following damage from Hurricane Ida supported the market, along with expectations for higher demand. Brent crude rose 48 cents, or 0.7% to $73.40 a barrel, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude also added 49 cents, or 0.7%, to $70.21 a barrel. Both markets were at their highest since Sept. 3 earlier in the session. About three-quarters of the U.S. Gulf's offshore oil production, or about 1.4 million barrels per day, has remained halted since late August - roughly equal to what OPEC member Nigeria produces. ''To compound matters, more oil refineries in Louisiana have resumed operations, raising demand for crude oil,'' ANZ analysts said in a note.   Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSa.L), the largest oil producer in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, on Thursday cancelled some export cargoes due to damage to offshore facilities from Hurricane Ida, signalling energy losses would continue for weeks. read more However, the number of rigs in operation in the United States grew in the latest week, energy service provider Baker Hughes said, indicating production may rise in coming weeks. read more Beyond the impact of Ida, market attention will focus this week on potential revisions to the oil demand outlook for 2022 from the Organization of the Petroleum Operating Countries (OPEC) and the International Energy Agency (IEA). OPEC will likely revise its forecast lower on Monday, two people familiar with the matter said. read more Money managers raised their net long U.S. crude futures and options positions in the week to Sept. 7, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said on Friday. The speculator group raise its combined futures and options position in New York and London by 1,035 contracts to 279,610 during the period. read more

POWER UP Refrigeration Compressor Oils are high performance fully synthetic lubricants specifically designed for the lubrication of refrigeration compressors and systems using ozone-friendly synthetic HFC refrigerants as well as recently developed HFO refrigerants and HFO/HFC blends with lower Global Warming Potential than HFC's, including A1 and A2L refrigerants as per ASHRAE 34/ISO 817 safety classification.     Performance Benefits   Excellent high temperature stability Very effective to rust and corrosion Well defined miscibility and P-V-T relationships with HFC refrigerants Assures high system efficiency and proper oil return in refrigeration system designs Very good anti-wear properties Reduced compressor wear resulting in lower maintenance costs read more

Tesla Inc. has unveiled a $199-a-month subscription plan for its Full Self-Driving package, rather than a $10,000 up-front fee, but it could come with an added cost for some drivers. Electrek first reported the new subscription plan Friday. According to Tesla’s support page, there are two options, depending on the vehicle’s current Autopilot capability: Basic Autopilot to FSD for $199 a month, or Enhanced Autopilot to FSD for $99 a month. Subscriptions can be canceled at any time. Tesla TSLA, -0.98% notes that FSD is not the same as fully driverless technology, and that “the currently enabled features require active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous.” But the subscription plan requires version 3.0 of the FSD hardware, and upgrading to that will cost $1,500. That hardware — containing a new, more powerful chip — has been standard in Teslas since mid-2019. However, Electrek reported Saturday that Tesla owners who bought their vehicles between late 2016 and mid-2019 were told at the time they had FSD hardware built in and would not need an additional hardware update. A number of Tesla owners on Twitter and Reddit expressed irritation or outright anger over that possibility, with some saying Tesla should pay for the upgrade cost while others called for a class-action lawsuit. Tesla’s support page says hardware upgrades are not included with the FSD subscription. Tesla, which dissolved its media relations team last year, did not immediately respond to a request for details about the FSD 3.0 upgrade cost. Tesla shares dipped 2% last week, and are down nearly 9% year to date. They’re still up 115% over the past 12 months, though. read more