{"id":903,"date":"2023-10-09T08:47:15","date_gmt":"2023-10-09T08:47:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ge63.com\/?p=903"},"modified":"2023-10-10T05:31:53","modified_gmt":"2023-10-10T05:31:53","slug":"middle-east-oil-increase","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ge63.com\/middle-east-oil-increase","title":{"rendered":"Middle East conflict sparks $3 surge in oil prices amid supply concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Oil prices surged by over $3 per barrel in Asian trading on Monday, propelled by intensifying military confrontations between Israel<\/a> and the Palestinian<\/a> Islamist group Hamas. This deepening political uncertainty in the Middle East has sparked concerns about potential disruptions to oil<\/a> supplies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brent crude recorded a notable increase of $3.10, equivalent to 3.67%, reaching $87.68 per barrel as of 0400 GMT. Simultaneously, U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude saw a rise of $3.26, or 3.94%, bringing it to $86.05 per barrel. Initially, both benchmarks experienced even more substantial gains, exceeding $4 per barrel before slightly tapering off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Analysts from ANZ Bank noted, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Increasing geopolitical risk in the Middle East should support oil prices, with higher volatility to be expected.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This recent surge in oil prices marked a reversal of the previous week’s downward trend, the most significant weekly decline since March. During that period, Brent had fallen approximately 11%, while WTI had retreated more than 8%. These declines were driven by concerns about rising interest rates and their potential impact on global demand for oil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hamas launched its most extensive military attack on Israel in decades on Saturday, resulting in the loss of hundreds of lives among Israelis and triggering a wave of retaliatory Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, which has claimed over 400 lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Energy analyst Saul Kavonic emphasized, “The risk premium on oil is rising due to the prospect of a wider conflagration that could spread to nearby major oil-producing nations such as Iran and Saudi Arabia.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The escalating violence also poses a threat to U.S. efforts to mediate a reconciliation between Saudi Arabia and Israel, which could involve the normalization of relations between the two and a defense pact between Washington and Riyadh. Saudi officials reportedly expressed their willingness to increase oil output next year as part of this proposed agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such an increase in Saudi oil production would have helped alleviate supply constraints that had persisted due to months of production cuts by key producers, including Saudi Arabia and Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, a normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel could potentially stall recent progress in detente between Saudi Arabia<\/a> and Iran, which has openly supported Hamas’ actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Analysts express deep concerns that oil supplies could be severely impacted if Iran becomes embroiled in the conflict. Kavonic warned, “If the conflict spreads to Iran… up to 3% of global oil supply could be at risk. And if a broader conflict affects transit through the Strait of Hormuz, roughly 20% of global oil supply could be jeopardized.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Intensifying Middle East clashes drive oil prices higher by $3. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":907,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[184,84,180,48],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ge63.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ge63.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ge63.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ge63.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ge63.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ge63.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ge63.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ge63.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ge63.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ge63.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}