Crude oil futures ended sharply higher on Monday amid concerns about supply due to a slowdown in production returns after last week's severe cold snap. The cold weather in Texas and the plains states reportedly forced the shutdown of approximately 4 million barrels per day of crude production along with 21 billion cubic feet of natural gas output. According to private report, it will take some time for U.S. crude output to return to normal levels due to the damage suffered by various infrastructure items in refinery facilities due to the extreme cold weather last week.
Crude oil futures for April rose $2.44 or 4.1 percent to settle at $61.70 barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. April Brent crude surged $2.16 or 3.5 percent to settle at $64.30 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.