Tropical Storm Rafael is already impacting oil prices

Oil prices creeped higher on Tuesday as pressures mounted from both the U.S. presidential election and the developing Tropical Storm Rafael, which could disrupt production later this week, Bloomberg reports. 

West Texas Intermediate climbed almost 1% to settle near $72 a barrel, while Brent advanced to trade above $75.

Tropical Storm Rafael, expected to develop into a hurricane later Tuesday, is currently on track to threaten some 1.7 million barrels of daily output from the Gulf of Mexico. In preparation for the storm, Chevron Corp. is evacuating all non-essential staff from its oil and gas assets in the Gulf. Shell has also announced evacuations for certain employees. 

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