Oil prices extended their steepest weekly decline since April 2020 on Monday, with Brent crude falling towards $97 per barrel after losing more than 16% last week, as hopes of a diplomatic resolution to the US-Iran conflict eased concerns over potential supply disruptions.<\/p>\n
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude traded around $91 per barrel.<\/p>\n
According to Bloomberg, the latest decline extends a retreat from a six-month high recorded at the end of October, as expectations of reduced tensions following a Democratic sweep of the US midterm elections raised hopes that the conflict would not escalate further.<\/p>\n
However, mixed signals from Washington over the prospects of a peace deal have continued to create uncertainty in the oil market.<\/p>\n
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio played down expectations of a breakthrough in negotiations with Iran, describing Tehran\u2019s demands as unacceptable and, in some cases, \u201coutrageous and ridiculous.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n His comments contrasted with US President Donald Trump\u2019s more conciliatory tone after CNN reported that he considered further military strikes on Iran \u201chighly unlikely\u201d if negotiations made substantial progress.<\/p>\n The conflicting signals have left traders assessing whether diplomatic efforts can deliver a lasting resolution to a conflict that has disrupted energy exports from the Persian Gulf.<\/p>\n Despite declining oil prices, security risks around the Middle East\u2019s critical energy infrastructure and shipping routes remain elevated.<\/p>\n The UK Maritime Trade Operations reported that a tanker was hit by an unknown projectile over the weekend while travelling outbound through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world\u2019s most important oil shipping corridors.<\/p>\n In another incident, Yemen\u2019s Iran-backed Houthi rebels damaged offices of Saudi Aramco, the Saudi state-owned oil giant, in Riyadh. Saudi forces subsequently retaliated by destroying two missile launchers.<\/p>\n The attacks have reinforced concerns that renewed hostilities could disrupt crude shipments and reverse the recent decline in oil prices.<\/p>\n Jorge Leon, head of geopolitical analysis at Rystad Energy AS, said the Democratic victory in the US midterm elections does not necessarily increase the likelihood of a diplomatic breakthrough.<\/p>\n He warned that renewed escalation could quickly reverse much of last week\u2019s decline in oil prices.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, crude exports from the Persian Gulf have recovered to near pre-war levels despite continued attacks on vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n According to Dhar, Brent crude could fall to between $70 and $85 per barrel if a deal results in the lifting of the blockade.<\/p>\n He noted that the global benchmark continues to carry a risk premium reflecting the possibility of renewed military confrontation between Washington and Tehran.<\/p>\n Elsewhere, Ukraine struck a sixth Russian oil refinery within a week, intensifying its campaign against energy infrastructure that helps finance Moscow\u2019s war.<\/p>\n Market participants will also monitor upcoming monthly oil market reports from three major forecasting agencies.<\/p>\n The US Energy Information Administration is scheduled to release its report on Tuesday, followed by OPEC on Wednesday and the International Energy Agency on Friday.<\/p>\n Source: <\/p>\n Oil prices extended their steepest weekly decline since April 2020 on Monday, with Brent crude falling towards $97 per barrel after losing more than 16% last week, as hopes of… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12911,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Fresh Middle East attacks threaten oil price recovery<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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Persian Gulf exports recover despite shipping risks<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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Ukraine attacks sixth Russian refinery in a week<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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