Investors weighed the prospect of more Middle Eastern crude reaching the market against deadly Gulf shipping risks Friday, while Brent futures traded near $99 after a steep weekly slide.
At 8:46 a.m. ET (13:46 UTC), January Brent futures stood at $98.55 a barrel, up 26 cents, or 0.3%. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures gained 57 cents, or 0.6%, to $91.09, Reuters reported. The outlet said Brent was on course to lose 16% for the week and WTI 13%. It said Brent's percentage decline would be its sharpest since the COVID-19 pandemic began, and its dollar-value drop the largest in LSEG data stretching to 1988.
The latest figures extend the pattern in an earlier EconoTimes report on WTI's roughly 13% weekly slide, which placed the U.S. benchmark near $91.
Reuters linked part of the week's retreat to expectations following Republican losses in the U.S. midterm elections. The outlet said investors saw a chance that the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran could ease, potentially allowing more crude exports from the region. Janiv Shah, an oil market analyst at Rystad, told Reuters traders were still waiting for evidence of a firm agreement.
The extra amount buyers paid for Middle Eastern crude in spot trades had contracted to its pre-conflict range, Reuters reported. The outlet said that shift, alongside weaker demand, pointed to a market with more supply available. Shah described the balance to Reuters as “loosening to a state of oversupply.”
Longer voyages and transfers between tankers near the Strait of Hormuz have helped keep crude moving, Reuters reported. Differences in crude quality limit which grades refiners can substitute for others.
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) said its tally through Nov. 6 included 129 confirmed incidents and 25 confirmed seafarer fatalities in the region. Its entry says the Velos Sapphire was damaged Nov. 4, about 50 nautical miles north of Madinat ash Shamal, Qatar; one seafarer died and no pollution was reported.
Reuters reported that Velos Tankers, the ship's manager, believed a missile attack caused the explosion. The IMO entry does not state a cause or identify a responsible party.
