Brent touches $111… Oil rises, but is on track to record its first weekly loss since the Iran war

Oil prices rose today, Friday, but are on track to record their first weekly decline since February 9, after US President Donald Trump extended the deadline for launching attacks on Iranian power plants, while investors remain skeptical about the possibilities of a ceasefire in the war that has been going on for a month.

Brent crude futures rose $2.71, or 2.51%, to $110.72 per barrel by 11:45 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures increased $2.23, or 2.36%, to $96.71.

Brent jumped 52% from its level on February 27, the day before the United States and Israel began their strikes on Iran, but it fell by more than 1% this week. As for West Texas Intermediate, which has risen 43% since the war began, it fell less than 2% during the week.

Priyanka Sachdeva, an analyst at Philip Nova, said: Despite talk of calm, oil is being traded according to the length of the war and not just the news being circulated. Any direct damage to the oil infrastructure or the continuation of the conflict for a long period may push the markets to quickly reprice oil higher.

Although Trump extended Iran’s deadline to reopen the Strait of Hormuz until April 6, before its energy infrastructure was destroyed, the United States sent thousands of soldiers to the Middle East, and the American President is studying the possibility of using ground forces to control Khark Island, the strategic Iranian oil center.

An Iranian official told Reuters that the 15-item American proposal, which Pakistan conveyed to Tehran, was unilateral and unfair.

The war led to the withdrawal of 11 million barrels of oil per day from global supplies. The International Energy Agency described the crisis as worse than the two oil shocks of the 1970s combined.

Giovanni Stanovo, an analyst at UBS, said: Every day that the movement of flows through the Strait is still restricted, there is a loss of more than 10 million barrels of oil… which increases the scarcity in the oil market.

Analysts at the Macquarie Group said that oil prices will decline quickly if the intensity of the war begins to subside soon, but they will remain higher than pre-conflict levels, and may rise to $200 if the war continues until the end of June.

Mukesh Sahdev, founder and CEO of Australia-based consultancy XAnalysts, said: Every passing day the pressure on the market increases, and Asian countries resort to their buffer stocks and study demand adjustments.