Concerns over Middle East supplies are driving up oil prices

 Concerns over Middle East supplies are driving up oil prices

Concerns over Middle East supplies are driving up oil prices

U.S. West Texas Intermediate oil futures increased 40 cents, or 0.55%, to $73.10 at 0101 GMT, while Brent crude up 33 cents, or 0.42%, to $78.58 a barrel.

Early on Thursday, oil prices increased, maintaining the strong gains of the previous day due to worries over Middle Eastern supply in the wake of a field outage in Libya and growing tensions around the Israel-Gaza conflict.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate oil futures increased 40 cents, or 0.55%, to $73.10 at 0101 GMT, while Brent crude up 33 cents, or 0.42%, to $78.58 a barrel.

For the first time in five days, both benchmarks finished up by about 3% on Wednesday, with WTI seeing the biggest daily percentage rise since mid-November.

The Sharara oil field in Libya, which has a daily production capacity of up to 300,000 barrels, was forced to completely halt operations on Wednesday due to local demonstrations. One of the biggest regions in Libya, it has often been the focus of both local and national political demonstrations.

Additionally on Wednesday, explosions during a memorial service for Commander Qassem Soleimani—who was killed by a US drone in 2020—claimed about a hundred lives. Iranian authorities accused unidentified "terrorists" and threatened retaliation. Divide.

But as of yet, no organization has claimed credit for the assault. According to John Kirby, the national security spokesperson for the White House, there was no proof that Israel was responsible for the attacks.

Rising regional tensions brought on by the continuing Israel-Hamas conflict are also helping to bolster oil prices.

The deputy head of Hamas was killed in an assault in Beirut on Tuesday. This was the first time Israeli troops and Iran-backed Hezbollah, which was restricted to the border region, had attacked the capital of Lebanon in over three months.

Worries about commerce in the Red Sea were raised on Wednesday when Yemen's Houthis, who are supported by Iran, claimed to have "targeted" a cargo ship headed for Israel. The terrorist organization launched two anti-ship ballistic missiles into the southern Red Sea the day before, according to US Central Command.

The American Petroleum Institute's report, which revealed that U.S. crude oil stockpiles decreased by 7.4 million barrels in the week ending December 29—double the decrease predicted by Reuters analysts—also provided assistance to the market.

In contrast to projections of a 200,000 barrel decrease, gasoline stocks rose by around 6.9 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles surged more than anticipated.

Due to the New Year holiday on Monday, weekly statistics from the U.S. Department of Energy's statistical arm, the Energy Information Administration, will be released at 11:00 a.m. (1600 GMT) on Thursday.

In other oil-related developments, OPEC said on Wednesday that talks and collaboration within the larger OPEC+ producer alliance will continue after Angola's announcement last month that it would be exiting the group.

The organization has scheduled a meeting on February 1st to discuss the execution of its most recent reductions in oil output.