2023-10-13 16:30:00
New York: The rise in oil prices accelerated on Friday, they even briefly rose almost 5%, investors fearing that the war between Israel and Hamas would spread to neighboring countries, some of which are major producers black gold, when European gas reached its highest price since February. Around 2:00 p.m. GMT (4:00 p.m. CET), the barrel of Brent BRENT Brent, or North Sea crude, is a variation of crude oil serving as a benchmark in Europe, listed on the InterContinentalExchange (ICE), a stock exchange specializing in energy trading. It became the first international standard for setting oil prices. from the North Sea for delivery in December, took 3.31% to 88.85 dollars.
Its American equivalent, the barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI WTI West Texas Intermediate (WTI), also called Texas Light Sweet, is a variation of crude oil that serves as a standard in setting the price of crude and as a raw material for oil futures contracts with the Nymex (New York Mercantile Exchange). ), the stock exchange specializing in energy.), for delivery in November, rose 3.30% to $85.65.
“Oil prices jump due togrowing geopolitical uncertainty and growing tensions in the Middle East, home to nearly a third of the world’s oil supply“, explains Lukman Otunuga, FXTM analyst, interviewed by AFP.
???????? “Even though neither Israel nor Hamas are major oil producers, there are fears that the conflict could spread to the region, leading to significant supply disruptions,” he continues.
???????? On the seventh day of the war between Israel and Hamas, thousands of Palestinians fled Friday towards the south of the Gaza Strip following a warning from the Israeli army which is constantly bombing the territory in retaliation for The bloody attack carried out on Saturday by the Palestinian Islamist movement.
???????? Iran is at the center of attention for its unreserved support for Hamas. Although Tehran has long supported the Islamist movement, Iranian leaders nevertheless claim not to be involved in the attack it launched on Saturday against Israel, sworn enemy of the Islamic Republic.
“As this conflict escalates, the risk of Iran becoming directly involved could disrupt oil supplies” and the propel “well above the level of 100 dollars per barrel“, told AFP Edward Moya, analyst at Oanda.
???????? At the same time, the United States announced on Thursday the first sanctions, targeting two companies, for non-compliance with the ceiling on the price of Russian oil set at $60 per barrel, almost a year after the imposition of this mechanism by several Western countries.
???????? The US Treasury “qualified these measures as a new phase in the implementation of a policy aimed at limiting the flow of money to Russia to finance its war in Ukraine”, comment DNB analysts.
“The application of tougher sanctions by the United States against Russia and Iran could tighten the balance of the oil market,” they recall.
???? On the European natural gas side, the Dutch TTF futures contract, considered the European benchmark, fell slightly, moving to 52.12 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) shortly after having touched 56.10 euros per MWh, its highest price since early February.
“In addition to the geopolitical uncertainty linked to the outbreak of war in the Middle East”, the damage to a gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea and “the alleged involvement of Russia raise fears that similar events could occur on other more critical gas pipelines in Europe”, comment Energi Danmark analysts.
Finnish President Sauli Niinistö announced Tuesday that this leak on the gas pipeline linking Finland to Estonia in the Baltic Sea, which caused the interruption of its operation on Sunday, had probably “resulted from an external activity”, without more than precision.
Finnish intelligence services estimated Thursday that the threat of Russian operations on Finnish infrastructure had increased since its membership of NATO.
(c) AFP
Comment Oil climbs, driven by geopolitical risk, gas at its highest since February
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