Crude oil prices were on course to book their second week of losses today, after two consecutive days of gains on news from the Middle East.
At the time of writing, Brent crude was trading at $95.87 per barrel, with West Texas Intermediate at $88.49 per barrel. These price levels are a sharp decline from the peaks hit in mid-October, but are still significantly higher than what Brent crude and WTI traded at in February, before the war started.
Signals about that war remain mixed. There appears to be only a moderate risk of serious escalation, but on the other hand, Iranian attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz continue, and the chances of a peace deal remain remote, after President Donald Trump said this week, “We don’t need a deal with Iran” and that “Those days have long since passed. We’ve got their money, Hundreds of Billions of Dollars, and we’ve got their Strait!”
The Iranian side may disagree with that, and it seems it is not budging on the conditions it has set for a peace deal. In the meantime, reports from Iranian sources about tankers getting targeted in Hormuz continue. The latest such report is about four vessels that did not comply with Iran’s instructions for crossing the strait and were attacked.
In Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, the Yemeni Houthis continue their attacks, with the latest ones targeting energy sites, including a pumping station on the East-West pipeline and a facility in the port city of Yanbu.
Even so, Saudi Arabia said its crude oil production had rebounded to 10.56 million barrels daily last month, which is essentially the level of production from before the war started. Aramco’s chief executive said the company plans to raise this further in the remaining months until the end of the year.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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