©Reuters. File photo: August 12, 2022, view showing oil tanks of the Transneft Oil Pipeline Operator Company at the crude oil terminal Kozmino on the Nakhodka Gulf coast near the Russian port city of Nakhodka.Reuters/Tatiana Mir
Written by Colleen Howe and Florence Tan
BEIJING/SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil prices fell on Monday after the U.S. government vowed to launch more attacks against Iranian-backed groups in the Middle East and a Ukrainian drone attacked southern Russia's largest refinery. It rebounded from last week's plunge and rose slightly.
At 0511 GMT, futures were up 36 cents, or 0.5%, at $77.69 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures were up 25 cents, or 0.4%, at $72.00 a barrel. The price was 53 dollars.
Both indexes ended last week down about 7%. It fell 2% on Friday after stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs data suggested a rate cut may be further away than expected and on progress in ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas.
“Expectations for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas contributed to this weakness,” ING analysts said in a note.
“But for now, it doesn't look like a ceasefire is imminent.”
Investors remain wary of an escalation in the Middle East conflict after the US signaled further attacks on Iranian-backed groups in the region in response to a deadly attack on US troops in Jordan.
The United States also continued its operations against the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen, carrying out 36 airstrikes on Saturday against the group, which has disrupted global oil trade routes with attacks on shipping ships. There was little impact on supply.
“Given that the U.S. military attack avoids a direct attack on Iran, a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas could have a more dominant effect,” said Vivek Dhar, a commodity analyst at Commonwealth Bank. I believe this will help ease tensions in the Middle East.”
“Oil markets are likely to respond by continuing to discount the risk of supply disruption in the Middle East,” he said in a note to clients on Monday, which would likely push Brent futures prices below $80 a barrel. he added.
The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday announced sanctions evasion charges and seizures related to an oil trafficking network it says funds Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
More than 520,000 barrels of sanctioned Iranian crude oil were seized from the crude oil tanker Abyss, which was anchored in the Yellow Sea (OTC:) en route to China.
Iran's budget sets oil sales for the Iranian fiscal year starting March 2024 at 1.35 million barrels per day, about 1.3 of the International Energy Agency's projected global supply of 103.5 million barrels per day. Corresponds to %.
In Russia, two Ukrainian attack drones attacked the country's largest oil refinery in the south on Saturday, sources in Kiev told Reuters. This is the latest in a series of long-range attacks on Russian oil facilities that have reduced exports of Russia's petrochemical naphtha. material.
Lukoil, which owns the 300,000 barrel-per-day Volgograd refinery, later announced that the plant was operating normally.
In the United States, power was restored to BP's (NYSE:) 435,000 barrel-per-day refinery in Whiting, Indiana, by noon Friday, but sources said BP was still setting a date for restarting the plant. He says he hasn't.
