* Texas cold snap shuts down oil wells and refineries
* Middle East supply worries raised by Yemen conflict
* Norwegian oil terminal wage dispute resolved
(Updates prices, adds UBS price forecast)
By Shadia Nasralla
LONDON, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Oil prices hovered near 13-month
highs on Tuesday, supported by a U.S. cold snap that shut wells
in the oil-producing state of Texas, though gains were capped by
a Norwegian wage deal that averted supply disruptions in Europe.
The global rollout of coronavirus vaccinations, fuelling
expectations of a recovery in the global economy and oil demand,
has also kept prices buoyant.
Keenly watched U.S. oil inventory data from the API industry
association and Energy Information Administration (EIA) will be
released this week on Wednesday and Thursday respectively, each
delayed by a day after U.S. markets were closed for a public
holiday on Monday.
Benchmark Brent crude slipped 37 cents, or 0.5%, to
$62.93 a barrel by 1434 GMT but remained 13-month peak reached
in the previous session.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures
gained 45 cents, or 0.8%, to $59.92 after touching their highest
since early January last year.
Swiss bank UBS increased its Brent price forecast, saying it
expects the benchmark to reach $68 a barrel in the second half
of the year and $70 by March 2022, with WTI trading at a $3
discount.
Cold weather in the United States halted operations at Texas
oil wells and refineries on Monday and forced restrictions on
natural gas and crude pipeline operators.
Texas produces about 4.6 million barrels per day of oil and
is home to 31 refineries, the most of any U.S. state and
including some of the country's largest, EIA data shows.
Middle East supply concerns also rose after the Saudi-led
coalition fighting the Houthi group in Yemen said on Monday that
it had destroyed an explosive-laden drone fired by the Houthis
at the kingdom, the world's biggest oil exporter.
But in a move that helped to cap prices, Norway's oil
industry employers struck a wage deal with the Safe labour union
on Tuesday, preventing a strike at the Mongstad crude terminal,
which could have forced major offshore oil and gas fields to
shut.
(Additional reporting by Jessica Jaganathan in Singapore
Editing by Edmund Blair and David Goodman
)
Astrazeneca (AZN)
