Oil rise

A barrel of West Texas Intermediate for October delivery was trading at $69.70 by 5:45 a.m. as crude held onto yesterday’s gains following yesterday’s U.S. inventory data that increased fears of a supply crunch. Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak told reporters that the country could add as much as 300,000 barrels per day to production within a year, if needed, as output concerns increase ahead of U.S. sanctions on Iran kicking in on Nov. 4.