Oil close to recouping last week losses
3 Min Read
Crude recovered the majority of last week's losses after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a Hamas ceasefire plan.
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A pump jack is seen operating as clouds cover a setting sun in Lubbock, Texas, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2006 (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
Oil prices rose more than 6% this week, nearly recouping last week's loss, as the potential of additional aggression in Gaza prompted traders to re-price geopolitical risk into a market depressed recently by promises of a ceasefire.
Suspect demand for oil from major customers such as China and India, along with record-high US supply, has kept global crude prices near $80 per barrel or lower for months. Major oil producers in the Saudi-led Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, aim for $100 per barrel or above.
While demand frequently determines the direction of petroleum prices, supply can also have an impact. In this situation, disruptions in crude shipments in the Red Sea due to Yemen's Ansar Allah can also increase prices.
In Friday trade in New York, the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) benchmark for US crude finished at $76.84 per barrel, up 62 cents, or 0.8%. It gained 6.3% this week, following a 7.4% dip the prior week. The so-called WTI had increased for the fifth day in succession, with Friday's high of $77.28 marking the highest since January 31.
The London trade Brent, the global benchmark for crude, settled at $82.19 per barrel, up 56 cents, or 0.7%, on the day. For the week, Brent gained 6.3% versus the prior week’s loss of almost 7.5%. Its high on Friday was $82.45, also the highest since January 31.
Crude recovered the majority of last week's losses after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a Hamas ceasefire plan. Israeli occupation forces continued their fatal air assaults on the Gaza Strip on Friday, following the shelling of Rafah on Thursday.
The Islamic Resistance Movement - Hamas submitted a response to a proposed ceasefire deal in which it maintained the necessity of "a comprehensive and complete ceasefire, ending the aggression against [the Palestinian people], securing relief, shelter, reconstruction (projects), lifting the siege on the Gaza Strip, and completing the process of a prisoner exchange [deal]."
In further detail, the statement explained that the response aims to achieve "a comprehensive and full ceasefire," a clause that was not included in the original proposal.
Hamas said that it did so following discussions on leadership levels within the movement and with other Palestinian Resistance factions. The statement added that the movement dealt "positively" with the initial proposal made in the Paris Document, which came as a result of a meeting of top intelligence officials from Egypt, Qatar, the United States, and France in Paris earlier in late January.
