Oil prices extend gains as Texas cold snap cuts U.S. output

* Texas cold snap shuts a fifth of U.S. refining output
* Extreme cold knocks out 1 mln bpd of crude production
-Woodmac
* U.S. crude stocks fall more than expected -API
* OPEC+ likely to ease supply curbs after April -sources

By Yuka Obayashi
TOKYO, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Oil prices rose as much as a
dollar on Thursday, extending this week's gains and hitting
13-month highs, as a cold snap sweeping Texas and surrounding
regions shut at least a fifth of U.S. refining output and a
million barrels of crude production.
Brent crude LCOc1 climbed 93 cents, or 1.5%, to $65.27 a
barrel by 0219 GMT, touching its highest since Jan. 20, 2020.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 futures gained
76 cents, or 1.2%, to $61.90 a barrel, registering its highest
since Jan. 8, 2020.
Both benchmarks rose about $1 on Wednesday and have gained
more than 6% since their close last Thursday. The unusual freeze
hitting much of the United States could hamper crude output for
days or even weeks, analysts said.
The Texas energy sector remained without power for a fifth
day on Wednesday, after an arctic blast stretched deep into
southern states not typically hit by extreme cold.
Roughly 1 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude production
have been shut, according to Wood Mackenzie analysts, and it
could be weeks before production is fully restored.
"A flurry of fresh buying in oil futures was triggered as an
unexpected impact on oil production and refiners in Texas from a
cold storm raised supply fears of crude and fuel," said Chiyoki
Chen, chief analyst at Sunward Trading.
"A larger-than-anticipated draw in the U.S. crude oil
inventories also added to supply concerns," Chen said.
U.S. crude oil stocks fell by 5.8 million barrels in the
week to Feb. 12 to about 468 million barrels, compared with
analysts' expectations for a draw of 2.4 million barrels,
American Petroleum Institute data showed. API/S
U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) oil inventory
data will be released later on Thursday, delayed by a day after
a Monday holiday. EIA/S
Oil prices have rallied over recent weeks on hopes for U.S.
stimulus and as global supplies tighten, due largely to
production cuts from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC) and allied producers in the group OPEC+.
But OPEC+ sources told Reuters the group's producers are
likely to ease curbs on supply after April given the recovery in
prices.