2023-10-11 01:47:00
Oil prices fell on Tuesday (10) as fears of a geopolitical escalation in the Middle East eased, while gas soared in Europe due to a leak in a gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia, likely the result of a “external activity”.
A barrel of North Sea Brent for December delivery fell 0.56% to $87.65.
In turn, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in November fell 0.47%, to 85.97 dollars.
“Oil prices were driven down by profit-taking as it became clear that a new catalyst would be needed for prices to rise above $90 per barrel again,” summarized Edward Moya, from Oanda, four days after the attack. Hamas to Israel.
For analysts at JPM Commodities, “there was no immediate impact on global oil production, but the market notes that supply could be disturbed if the United States imposed strict restrictions on Iranian oil exports or if the disturbances reached the Strait of Hormuz”, It is a strategic passage from the Persian Gulf through which much of the world’s crude oil passes.
On Monday, oil rose after the surprise attack by Hamas on Saturday.
“Despite the decrease in prices” this Tuesday, the markets “remain disturbed” by the situation, “which could lead to more instability and push the price of a barrel to unprecedented levels since last year”, explained Ricardo Evangelista, analyst at ActivTrades.
“The big question lies in Iran’s potential involvement” in the attack, he highlighted.
Ayatoll Ali Jamenei, Iran’s highest religious authority, denied that his country was behind the mass attack launched on Saturday by Hamas, although he reaffirmed Iranian support for “Palestine”.
In the European gas market, the Dutch TTF contract, a benchmark in the region, rose more than 12% at closing, to 49.4 euros per megawatt-hour (MWh).
Finland announced on Tuesday that it suspected external intervention in the leak of the gas pipeline that supplies the country from Estonia and said it had received NATO support in the investigation.
Operations of the gas pipeline, the last one supplying the Nordic country after the interruption of imports of Russian gas, were halted on Sunday due to the leak.
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