* U.S. energy companies brace for another storm
* More than 40% of U.S. Gulf oil and gas output still shut
* IEA sees oil demand rebounding by 1.6 million bpd in
October
* China to auction 7.38 mln bbl of crude from strategic
reserves
(Updates byline, dateline (previous LONDON), market activity;
adds commentary)
By Laura Sanicola
Sept 14 (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Tuesday, extending
gains as Nicholas weakened into a tropical storm and the
International Energy Agency said demand would rebound in the
remainder of the year.
Brent crude was up 21 cents, or 0.3%, at $73.72 a
barrel by 11:20 a.m. EDT (1520 GMT) after hitting a session high
of $74.28. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude
climbed 21 cents, or 0.7%, to $70.66 after touching a high of
$71.22.
Both contracts have risen for three consecutive sessions and
were trading at their highest levels since early August.
Nicholas is the second major storm to threaten the U.S. Gulf
region in recent weeks, having made landfall as a Category 1
hurricane on Monday evening. The Gulf is still recovering from
Hurricane Ida, with more than 40% of its oil and gas output
remaining shut on Monday after that powerful Category 4 storm
damaged offshore infrastructure and other critical energy
facilities in Louisiana.
Royal Dutch Shell on Tuesday shut production at an
offshore oil platform due to heavy winds from Nicholas. 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.
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 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.
Protesters blocked an oil tanker from loading at the Libyan
terminal of Es Sider on Tuesday, the National Oil Corporation's
(NOC) media office and an engineer at the port said.
Details on China's plans to sell crude from its strategic
reserves dampened price gains. China's state reserves
administration said it would auction about 7.4 million barrels
of crude on Sept. 24, the first batch of sales in a rare release
of strategic inventories.
(Additional reporting by Ahmad Ghaddar in London, Yuka Obayashi
in Tokyo
Editing by Jason Neely, David Goodman and Paul Simao)
