Global Oil Market Reacts to Supply Risks
Crude oil prices rose by more than one dollar in global market trading on Friday, amid attacks on oil tankers and a lack of progress in a peace agreement.
Brent crude rose by $1.45, or 1.67 percent, to close at $88.52 per barrel. The price of U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude increased by $1.15, or 1.42 percent, to close at $82.40 per barrel.
Brent crude prices rose 6 percent over the week, while West Texas Intermediate increased by 5.4 percent.
Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates, said: “Following new attacks on oil tankers and the lack of progress on a ceasefire agreement, we are seeing prices rise toward the end of the week.”
Lipow said: “The price of crude oil may be $80 per barrel, but diesel is $180 per barrel and gasoline is $130 per barrel, and this is what hurts consumers.”
Despite the U.S. claim that it controls the Strait of Hormuz, shipping traffic through the route fell below the monthly average. Before the start of the U.S.-Israeli aggression against Iran in late February, the strait was a transit route for approximately one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas, and its closure has been a key factor supporting higher prices.
The United Arab Emirates’ state news agency (WAM) reported that two vessels belonging to the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) were attacked while passing through the strait last Thursday.
Phil Flynn, senior analyst at Price Futures Group, said: “It was the news of the tanker attacks that pushed prices higher.”
Meanwhile, three sources familiar with the matter said crude oil exports from the Sheskharis terminal at Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk were suspended on Friday following a drone attack, adding to disruptions at one of the country’s key export outlets.
Flynn said Ukraine’s attack on the port of Novorossiysk also pushed prices higher.
According to Reuters, while Middle Eastern oil supplies have been constrained, OPEC forecasts point to weaker demand growth, and U.S. crude oil inventories recorded their largest weekly increase in more than 3.5 years.
Meanwhile, oilfield services company Baker Hughes said on Friday that U.S. energy companies added one oil rig over the past week, bringing the total number of active rigs to 455, the highest level since May 2025 and 43 rigs higher than the same period last year. The rig count serves as an indicator of future production levels. The number of gas drilling rigs also increased by four to 128 rigs.