Oil prices edged higher on Friday ahead of a long US holiday weekend, with both major benchmarks posting some of their tightest weekly moves in months as traders adopted a wait-and-see approach to US-Iran peace efforts.
Brent crude futures rose 17 cents, or 0.24%, to $72.10 a barrel by 01:55 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate added 14 cents, or 0.20%, to $68.83 a barrel. American markets were closed Friday ahead of the Independence Day holiday on Saturday.
In the prior session, both benchmarks had touched their lowest levels since before the US-Israeli war on Iran broke out in late February. Brent is down 0.02% on the week; WTI is up 0.12%.
“It’s a case of cautious optimism,” said Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade. “The market wants to believe that the peace efforts will hold, but it is still hedging its expectations until it sees real evidence on the ground.”
The muted price movement reflects the tension between two forces: a potential easing of Middle East supply risk and a wave of production coming back online. Some countries have been ramping up output since the Strait of Hormuz reopened. Before the war, the strait handled a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.
Kuwait’s output rose sharply to 1.65 million barrels per day in June from 580,000 barrels per day in May, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters, as the OPEC member moved to boost exports following the provisional US-Iran peace agreement. Meanwhile, according to trade sources and shipping data, at least five very large crude carriers carrying a combined 10 million barrels of Saudi oil have cleared the Strait of Hormuz, with Saudi Aramco switching to spot pricing to accelerate sales into Asia.
