Oil
Crude futures climbed higher on Friday as the Strait of Hormuz remained closed, although analysts warned that the weekend could bring unexpected developments in the conflict, two weeks after it began.
As part of efforts to lower fuel prices for consumers, the US issued a 30-day licence allowing countries to purchase Russian oil and petroleum products stranded at sea. This will affect about 100mn barrels of Russian crude, equal to nearly one day of global oil production, according to Russia’s presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev. The announcement on Russian oil came a day after the US Department of Energy said Washington would release 172mn barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help curb surging oil prices.
Gas
Asia spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices edged lower this week but remained elevated as Asia and Europe continued to compete for cargoes amid shipping disruptions and QatarEnergy’s halt to LNG production.
In Europe, the Dutch TTF gas price settled at $16.91 per mmBtu on Friday, posting a weekly loss of 6.4%. With EU gas storage inventories hovering near 29% full, tighter LNG supply and stronger Asian demand may require Europe to maintain higher price signals to secure cargoes and rebuild inventories.