Oil
Oil weakened on Friday, set for a second straight weekly decline, as the market weighed signs of a growing global supply surplus and Washington's focus on blockading Iran while ramping up other economic pressures in the nine-month war.
Brent crude futures settled at $95.84 a barrel, and US WTI crude finished at $88.56 a barrel. For the week, Brent and WTI fell by 2.5%.
Oil had a volatile trading week, with earlier hopes for a rapprochement between the US and Iran offset by strikes on Saudi Arabian infrastructure by the Houthis and attacks on tankers shipping crude out of the Gulf.
The weakness in oil prices is also tied to softening US demand, as rising crude and fuel inventories indicate a subdued consumption outlook. US crude and fuel inventories rose last week, driven by softer refined products demand and a jump in oil imports.
Gas
Asian spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices edged lower last week but remained near a four-year high as uncertainty over US-Iran diplomacy and low European storage levels kept the market tight.
The average LNG price for December delivery into northeast Asia was $31.30 per million British thermal units, down from $ 31.40 per mmBtu the week before.
Cargo flows through the strait have improved this month, with 16 shipments so far in November compared with 26 in the whole of October, indicating a faster pace.
In Europe, the Dutch TTF gas price settled at $28.74 per mmBtu, posting a weekly increase by 3.0%. Competition from Europe for tight supplies is likely to intensify as weather forecasts indicate that colder conditions will persist. This could accelerate withdrawals from storage, with levels expected to fall below 70% next week, analysts said.
This article was supplied by the Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Attiyah International Foundation for Energy and Sustainable Development.
