U.S. oil benchmark aims for 7-day winning streak

Posted By: EN Todayon: February 13, 2024In: General Energy News, Oil & Gas News

Oil futures rose early Tuesday, continuing to find support on concerns around the potential for Middle East tensions to threaten crude supplies from the region.

Price moves

West Texas Intermediate crude
CL00,
+0.55%
for March delivery
CL.1,
+0.55%

CLH24,
+0.55%
rose 63 cents, or 0.8%, to $77.55 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
April Brent crude
BRN00,
+0.52%

BRNJ24,
+0.52%,
the global benchmark, was up 67 cents, or 0.8%, at $82.67 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.

Market drivers

WTI, the U.S. benchmark, logged a sixth straight gain Monday, while Brent edged lower. Both grades had rallied more than 6% last week as jitters over the potential for conflict in the Middle East to threaten crude supply were once again on the rise.

“The market remains very volatile, with events in the Middle East creating upside risks. Then there’s the global economy and interest rates, the expectations of which are forever changing,” Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda, said in a note.

“Interest rate expectations have been pared back more recently but traders remain upbeat on the economic outlook. Of course, the further back the first rate cuts are pushed, the less confident people will be which could weigh on oil prices,” he said.