Oil prices rise amid Middle East tensions and Fed comments
Oil prices rose by around two percent at the end of the week. They were driven higher by tensions in the Middle East and comments on inflation from officials at the US Federal Reserve (Fed). At around 17:30 CET, North Sea Brent crude was up 1.75 percent, approaching $79 a barrel. US light crude West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was up as much as 2.4 percent at the same time, reaching nearly $74 a barrel. Both benchmarks are on track to end the first week of the year higher after recouping Thursday’s losses, which were caused by a sharp rise in US gasoline and distillate inventories.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is preparing to visit the Middle East in an effort to ease tensions in the region, where conflict is raging between Israel and the radical Hamas movement. Danish shipping company Maersk said its vessels would continue to avoid the Red Sea for the foreseeable future for security reasons, after one of them was hit by a missile fired by Yemeni rebels in late December.
Israeli forces are planning a more targeted operation in northern Gaza and will continue pursuing Hamas leaders in the south, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Thursday. The risk of escalation on the border between Israel and Lebanon is “unfortunately very real,” a German Foreign Ministry spokesperson said today.
At its meeting on Thursday, the Fed indicated that inflation was under control. At the same time, it expressed concern about the risks that overly restrictive monetary policy could pose to the economy.
Oil prices in dollars per barrel (about 159 liters):
| EXCHANGE | TYPE | CONTRACT | CURRENT PRICE | PREVIOUS CLOSE |
| London – ICE | Brent | March | 78,95 | 77,59 |
| New York – NYMEX | WTI | February | 73,94 | 72,19 |
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.
