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Oil settles greater as pressure mounts in the Middle East

Oil futures settled higher on Thursday as hostilities continued in the Red Sea with Iranaligned Houthis stepping up attacks near Yemen, but a big integrate in U.S. crude inventories weighed on gains.

Brent unrefined futures settled greater, up 64 cents or 0.77% at $83.67 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures settled greater, up 70 cents or 0.9% at $78.61 a. barrel.

Israel's Army Radio reported on Thursday that Prime Minister. Benjamin Netanyahu's war cabinet has approved sending. mediators to Gaza for truce talks taking place in Paris as. pressure mounts in the Middle East.

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis will escalate their. attacks on ships in the Red Sea and other waters and have. introduced submarine weapons, the group's leader stated on. Thursday, as it maintains attacks on shipping to show support for. Palestinians in the Gaza war.

The Red Sea circumstance continues to ferment and it is. starting to sign up more with the market that this is a concern. that is not going away, John Kilduff, a partner at New. York-based Again Capital said.

Europe is bearing the impact in regards to supply - however. European supply problems end up being U.S. supply issues since. that will put a contact United States gasoline and diesel, he added.

On Thursday, the premium for front-month WTI crude futures. to the 2nd month depended on 75 cents per barrel. That spread. has actually widened in recent sessions, and on Tuesday touched $1.95 per. barrel ahead of the March contract's expiration.

Market players are likely rates in a possible interruption. to supply in the future, with the front-month contract's. premium over the second widening, which suggests a tightening. market, UBS expert, Giovanni Staunovo stated in a note.

Still, crude gains were capped on Thursday by an integrate in. U.S. oil inventories due to refinery maintenance and blackouts.

U.S. crude stocks increased by 3.5 million barrels to 442.9. million barrels in the week ending Feb. 16, the U.S. Energy. Information Administration stated on Thursday, compared with. analysts' expectations in a survey for a 3.9. million-barrel rise.

U.S. crude inventories have climbed up in the middle of outages at big. refineries that have actually left utilization rates at the lowest level. in two years, though the plants are quickly to resume output.

Refinery usage rates were the same last week, at. 80.6%, according to EIA information on Thursday, compared with. analysts' expectations of an uptick to 81.5%, according to a. survey.

BP's 435,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Whiting refinery in. Indiana, the biggest in the U.S. Midwest, will return to complete. production in March, according to people familiar with plant. operations, after a power blackout from Feb. 1.

TotalEnergies' 238,000-bpd refinery in Port Arthur, Texas,. is also working to complete a reboot, though it is still. running minimally following a weather-related power blackout.

The failures have actually drawn down extract inventories, which. include diesel and heating oil. Those stockpiles were down by 4. million barrels in the week to 121.7 million barrels, versus. expectations for a 1.7 million-barrel drop, the EIA information revealed.

(source: Reuters)