Benchmark oil prices are moderately rising on Tuesday morning after a marked decline a day earlier.
The price of March futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange by 7:14 a.m. was $82.64 per barrel, which is $0.24 (0.29%) higher than at the close of the previous session. On Monday, these contracts fell by $1.15 (1.4%) to $82.4 per barrel.
Quotations for March futures for WTI in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) by this time increased by $0.28 (0.36%) to $77.06 per barrel. At the end of the previous session, they fell by $1.23 (1.6%) to $76.78 per barrel.
At the beginning of the last session, oil was actively rising in price on the news of the deaths of three American soldiers as a result of a drone attack on a US base in Jordan. U.S. President Joe Biden claimed that paramilitary groups linked to Iran were involved in the attack. Tehran denied such accusations.
Some market participants fear a direct military clash between the United States and Iran, but Washington may try to “contain the escalation and give a limited, local response amid the electoral cycle,” said XS.com analyst Samer Hasn.
At the same time, oil quotations are under pressure from fears of a slowdown in the economy of China, the world’s largest oil importer, and global demand in general, MarketWatch writes.
