Oil heads for weekly gain, supported by Middle East tensions
Oil is heading for a weekly gain. It is supported by tensions in the Middle East and weather-related production outages in the United States. These factors outweighed concerns about the Chinese and global economies.
North Sea Brent crude was up 0.25 percent shortly after 17:00 CET, trading at 79.30 dollars a barrel. US light crude West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was up 0.35 percent at the same time, trading at around 74.35 dollars a barrel.
For the week as a whole, WTI could rise by more than two percent, while Brent is expected to gain around one percent. In both cases, prices rose on Thursday after the International Energy Agency (IEA) raised its forecast for oil demand growth in 2024.
Pakistan launched a retaliatory attack on separatist militants in Iran on Thursday. The United States carried out new strikes against missiles belonging to Yemen’s Houthi rebels and aimed at the Red Sea.
„Although oil prices remain sensitive to events in the Middle East, as we have seen over the past few weeks, the oil market remains well balanced,“ said Craig Erlam, an analyst at brokerage OANDA.
„Supply disruptions remain a risk to the upside, but there are also downside risks, including the global economy,“ he added.
Oil prices in dollars per barrel (about 159 litres):
| EXCHANGE | TYPE | CONTRACT | CURRENT PRICE | PREVIOUS CLOSE |
| London – ICE | Brent | March | 79,30 | 79,10 |
| New York – NYMEX | WTI | February | 74,35 | 74,08 |
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Translation disclaimer
This article is a machine translation of the Czech original and has not yet been fully reviewed. In case of any doubt, please refer to the Czech version.
