Oil continues to rise each week despite a scarcity of supplies and the Middle East turmoil

Oil continues to rise each week despite a scarcity of supplies and the Middle East turmoil

Due to persistent supply disruptions and growing fears over Middle Eastern supply, oil prices finished higher on Friday, up around 6% from the previous week.

Friday saw an increase in oil prices, up over 6% from the previous week, as continued supply disruptions in the Middle East caused market disruptions for refined products.

On Friday, oil prices increased by about 6% on a weekly basis as worries about Middle Eastern supplies increased and restrictions on the market for refined products were lifted.

At $82.19 a barrel, Brent oil futures closed 56 cents, or 0.7%, higher. At $76.84 a barrel, U.S. West Texas Intermediate oil futures increased by 62 cents, or 0.8%.

Following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rejection of a cease-fire proposal from Hamas on Wednesday, oil futures saw a weekly increase. The previous week's loss of 7% was followed by this week's increase.

"We believe this type of week-to-week wide price volatility will further characterizing crude oil markets through the remainder of this month due to substantial bullish headlines from the Middle East," said Jim Ritterbush. "This could result in adjustments in the global oil balance." Manager of Galena, Illinois's Ritterbusch & Associates LLC.

According to a highly watched survey by energy services company Baker Hughes (BKR.O), U.S. energy businesses also added 623 oil and natural gas rigs this week, bringing the total to 4, the most since mid-December.

As to the US Energy Information Administration, the US domestic production reached a record high of 13.3 million barrels per day this week. The cold weather that occurred last month forced several oil-producing locations to shut down.

On Friday, the Israeli army carried out more fatal airstrikes on the Gaza Strip. The bombardment of Rafah, a city bordering the south, on Thursday resulted in an almost 3% increase in oil prices.

"With the words that, 'No part of the Gaza Strip will remain unaffected by Israeli attack', it was not difficult for oil participants to conclude that, with no even a token respect for peace, there was insufficient conflict-premium," said John Evans, a PVM analyst.

Strength in the price of gasoline and diesel helped sustain crude oil futures while substantial unexpected and scheduled refinery outages in the United States affected product markets.

Futures for gasoline increased by about 9% on the week to $2.34 per gallon, while those for heating oil increased by 11% to $2.96 per gallon.

Drone attacks by Ukraine on two oil refineries in southern Russia on Friday caused the Ilsky facility to catch fire. The second site targeted was the Afipsky refinery, located near Krasnodar Krai, which borders Crimea on the Black and Azov Seas.

Due to a mix of drone assaults and refinery technical issues, Russia is shipping more petroleum than it was supposed to under the terms of the OPEC+ agreement in February.

Regarding Russia's OPEC+ reduction quota, Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch said on Friday that "evidence must continue to be provided that it is able to meaningfully cut oil exports regardless of weather-related constraints."

Three more United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based companies and a ship registered in Liberia were sanctioned by the US Treasury Department on Thursday for exceeding price caps on Russian oil set by a group of Western countries.