Oil prices continue to rise on Tuesday morning as traders assess the situation in the Middle East.
The cost of July futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange as of 8:04 a.m. is $83.48 per barrel, which is $0.15 (0.18%) higher than at the close of the previous trading. On Monday, these contracts rose by $0.37 (0.5%) to $83.33 per barrel.
June futures for WTI in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) have risen in price by this time by $0.14 (0.18%) to $78.62 per barrel. As a result of the previous trading, the value of these contracts increased for the first time in six sessions – by $0.37 (0.5%) to $78.48 per barrel.
Israel is not abandoning its plans to conduct an operation in Rafah, intending to put pressure on the Hamas movement in this way, The Times of Israel reports, citing a statement by the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“The Israeli military cabinet unanimously voted to continue preparations for an operation in Rafah in order to put military pressure on Hamas to make progress in releasing hostages and achieving the war’s goals,” the newspaper quoted the statement of the office as saying.
According to it, Hamas’s recent response to peace initiatives does not satisfy Israel. Netanyahu had earlier said that Hamas had put forward unacceptable demands, including a permanent ceasefire.
In addition, Saudi Aramco announced last weekend that it will raise oil prices for Asian buyers in June. The cost of the main grade supplied to Asia, Arab Light, will increase by $0.9 per barrel. As a result, it will cost $2.9 more than the basket of Omani and Dubai crude, Saudi Aramco said in a statement.
The price increase may indicate that Saudi Arabia is “not that worried about weak oil demand,” MartketWatch quotes Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at The Price Futures Group, as saying.
Oil prices are rising on Monday after the biggest drop since February in the previous week.
The cost of July futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange as of 8:10 a.m. is $83.25 per barrel, which is $0.29 (0.35%) higher than at the close of the previous trading. On Friday, these contracts fell by $0.71 (0.9%) to $82.96 per barrel.
June futures for WTI in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) have risen in price by this time by $0.3 (0.38%) to $78.41 per barrel. As a result of the previous trading, the value of contracts decreased by $0.84 (1.1%) to $78.11 per barrel.
Over the week, Brent fell by 6%, while WTI fell by almost 7%.
Last week’s pressure on the market was exerted by data on the growth of US stocks and signals of declining demand, as well as some easing of fears associated with the possibility of a reduction in oil supplies from the Middle East.
Traders believe that amid a significant decline in prices, OPEC+ countries will continue to limit production. The majority of traders and analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expect that the alliance countries that adhere to the voluntary production curbs will continue the current measures until the end of this year.
Saudi Aramco announced last weekend that it will raise oil prices for Asian buyers in June. The cost of the main grade supplied to Asia, Arab Light, will increase by $0.9 per barrel. As a result, it will cost $2.9 more than a basket of Omani and Dubai crude, Saudi Aramco said in a statement.
Benchmark oil prices are moderately rising on Friday morning after rising in the last hours of trading the day before.
The price of June futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange at 8:01 a.m. is $89.35 per barrel, which is $0.34 (0.38%) higher than at the close of the previous session. On Thursday, these contracts rose in price by $0.99 (1.1%) to $89.01 per barrel.
Quotations for June futures for WTI in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) by this time increased by $0.29 (0.35%) to $83.86 per barrel. At the end of the previous session, the contract rose by $0.76 (0.9%) to $83.57 per barrel.
For most of the last session, oil was trading in the red, managing to break even at the very end of trading. Such fluctuations were caused by low trading volume, Manish Raj, managing director of Velandera Energy Partners, told MarketWatch. “Too many investors have played the downside, and now they are trying to close their positions,” he said.
A day earlier, the U.S. Department of Energy reported that commercial oil reserves in the country fell by 6.368 million barrels last week. The drop was the largest since January, and the decline was recorded for the first time in five weeks. Despite this, oil prices declined slightly on Wednesday.
“The bulls are probably very upset by the market’s reaction to the larger-than-expected drop in oil inventories,” analysts at brokerage Zaner said.
Oil prices resumed their rise on Friday amid a new wave of fears about a possible Iranian attack on Israel.
Earlier, the United States and its allies warned of a high probability of an Iranian attack on government and military targets in Israel in response to the strike on the Iranian embassy in Syria.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing informed sources, that the attack will take place in the next 24-48 hours.
The cost of June futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange as of 8:05 a.m. is $90.22 per barrel, which is $0.48 (0.53%) higher than at the close of the previous trading. On Thursday, these contracts fell by $0.74 (0.8%) to $89.74 per barrel.
Futures for WTI for May in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) have risen in price by this time by $0.61 (0.72%) to $85.63 per barrel. As a result of previous trading, the value of these contracts fell by $1.19 (1.4%) to $85.02 per barrel.
“The threat of Iranian intervention is likely to support the upward trend in oil prices,” said Charu Chanana, an analyst at Saxo Bank Capital Markets in Singapore. – “However, the upward trend in the market will be jeopardized if the escalation of geopolitical risks is avoided.
Traders’ attention on Friday is also focused on the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) monthly review of the oil market.
Oil prices, which ended last week at their highest levels since October, are falling on Monday.
The cost of June futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange as of 8:10 a.m. is $89.91 per barrel, which is $1.26 (1.38%) lower than at the close of the previous trading. On Friday, these contracts rose by $0.52 (0.6%) to $91.17 per barrel.
Futures for WTI for May in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) have fallen by $1.15 (1.32%) to $85.76 per barrel by this time. As a result of the previous trading, the value of these contracts increased by $0.32 (0.4%) to $86.91 per barrel.
Last week, Brent rose in price by 4.8%, WTI – by 4.5%.
Traders continue to monitor geopolitical news, given Iran’s threats to retaliate against Israel for the attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus. Despite the sanctions, Iran is the third largest oil producer in OPEC, Market Watch notes.
Meanwhile, the Israeli Defense Forces withdrew all units from the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday night, The Jerusalem Post reported. According to the newspaper, only one Israeli army brigade has remained in place, tasked with ensuring the security of the corridor linking southern Israel with the Gaza coast.
“A concession such as the withdrawal from Gaza is in no way a reason to discount the threat of a more direct conflict between Israel and Iran,” said Vishnu Varathan, an analyst at Mizuho Bank in Singapore. – “The volatility of oil prices remains, and this is mainly due to geopolitics.
Oil prices are steadily rising on Wednesday afternoon ahead of the release of US inventory data.
The cost of June futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange as of 14:40, is $89.68 per barrel, which is $0.76 (0.85%) higher than at the close of the previous trading.
Futures for WTI for May in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) have risen in price by this time by $0.73 (0.86%) to $85.88 per barrel.
Trading Economics notes a sharp increase in the risk of oil supply disruptions after Iran’s announcement of a planned response to the Israeli air strike on its consulate in Damascus.
On Wednesday, the OPEC+ monitoring committee also met. According to an Interfax source, the committee’s ministers did not make any recommendations to the alliance based on its results; a full meeting of OPEC+ is scheduled for June 1.
In addition, at 17:30, the US Department of Energy will publish a weekly report on oil, gasoline, and distillate stocks in the country. The data released the day before by the American Petroleum Institute (API) showed a drop in oil reserves by 2.286 million barrels in the week ended March 29.
