On Thursday, oil prices remained stable after significantly declining in the previous session. This was because fears of shipping interruptions along the Red Sea route decreased, even though tensions in the Middle East continued to escalate.
By 07:36 GMT, a barrel of Brent oil had increased by 2 cents, reaching $79.75. On the other hand, the price of a barrel of WTI crude in the United States was trading 3 cents down, at $74.08. Following the return of major shipping companies to the Red Sea on Wednesday, prices decreased by approximately two percent throughout that day.
According to Hiroyuki Kikukawa, president of NS Trading, a unit of Nissan Securities, it is tough to sell further. “Concerns about shipping in the Red Sea have eased, but continued worries about tensions in the Middle East, especially Iran’s involvement in the region, make it difficult to sell further,” Kikukawa said.
“The market is likely to try the upside again … maybe in the early new year, also on expectations of a recovery in fuel demand thanks to monetary easing in the United States and higher kerosene demand during the winter in the northern hemisphere,” stated the economist.
Following the Houthi militia’s attacks, which Iran supports, the Danish shipping giant Maersk announced that it had scheduled several dozen container boats to travel across the Suez Canal and the Red Sea in the upcoming weeks. This comes after the business called a temporary halt to those routes earlier this month.
However, the possibility of an Israeli military campaign in Gaza that lasts for an extended period and the fact that the war has spread to include attacks on ships in the Red Sea continue to be critical factors that influence market sentiment.
It was a day after Israel’s chief of staff, Herzi Halevi, assured reporters that the war would last “for many months” that Israeli forces began bombarding the central region of Gaza by land, sea, and air on Wednesday.
A day’s delay in releasing statistics on gasoline stocks by the United States government is expected to occur on Thursday, as the Christmas holiday falls on Monday.
Seven experts surveyed by Reuters predicted that oil stocks would decrease by 2.7 million barrels for the week ending on December 22. However, data released by the American Petroleum Institute industry organization on Wednesday revealed that crude stocks increased by 1.84 million barrels during the same week.
