By Florence Tan
SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Oil costs dipped on Monday after rising for 4 weeks, because the prospect of a ceasefire deal in Gaza eased geopolitical tensions within the Center East, whereas buyers assessed potential disruption to U.S. power provides from Tropical Storm Beryl.
futures have been down 12 cents, or 0.1%, at $86.42 a barrel, as at 0234 GMT.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $82.88 a barrel, down 28 cents, or 0.3%.
Talks over a U.S. ceasefire plan geared toward ending the nine-month-old conflict in Gaza are below approach, and being mediated by Qatar and Egypt.
“If anything concrete comes from the ceasefire talks, it will take some of geopolitical bid out of the market for now,” mentioned IG analyst Tony Sycamore based mostly in Sydney.
The ports of Corpus Christi, Houston, Galveston, Freeport and Texas Metropolis closed on Sunday to organize for Tropical Storm Beryl, which may develop right into a Class 2 hurricane after making landfall in the course of the Texas coast between Galveston and Corpus Christi in a while Monday.
Port closures may convey a brief halt to crude and liquefied exports, oil shipments to refineries, and motor gasoline deliveries from these crops.
“While this puts some offshore oil and gas production at risk, the concern when the storm makes landfall is the potential impact it could have on refinery infrastructure,” ING analysts led by Warren Patterson mentioned in a notice.
“Any meaningful disruptions to Texas refinery operations will likely support refined product cracks.”
IG’s Sycamore mentioned there may be additionally an excellent probability of U.S. information displaying one other giant weekly attract U.S. oil inventories amid peak driving season, which will probably be supportive for oil costs.
WTI gained 2.1% final week after information from the Vitality Info Administration confirmed stockpiles for crude and refined merchandise fell within the week ended June 28. [EIA/S]
“WTI has had a very good run, though, having rallied 15% from the early June low,” Sycamore mentioned, including that the benchmark may see robust resistance between $85.50 and $87.50 based mostly on technical charts.
The variety of working oil rigs within the U.S. have been unchanged at 479 final week, holding at its lowest since December 2021, Baker Hughes mentioned in its weekly report on Friday.
Oil costs have been additionally supported final week by hopes of rate of interest cuts, Sycamore mentioned, following U.S. information on Friday that confirmed inflation is easing and job development slowing.
Decrease rates of interest can enhance financial exercise and improve demand.
Traders have been additionally expecting any affect from elections within the UK, France and Iran final week on geopolitics and power insurance policies.
France confronted potential political impasse after elections on Sunday threw up a hung parliament whereas Iranians selected Masoud Pezeshkian as their new president, a relative reasonable who beat a hard-line rival within the election.
