Oil headed for a weekly gain after Houthi strikes on Red Sea tankers stoked fears that a second shipping chokepoint could close, while Kazakhstan cut output when its main export terminal shut. Both crude benchmarks eased on Friday even so.
Brent crude headed for a weekly advance of 13.5%. West Texas Intermediate was on track for a 10.9% rise after Iran-aligned Houthis said they had struck two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea. The attacks fed fears that the Bab el-Mandeb strait — the second most important oil channel after the Strait of Hormuz — could shut.
Prices still pulled back on Friday. Brent futures eased 72 cents, or 0.72%, to $99.97 a barrel as of 0126 GMT. WTI fell 70 cents, or 0.76%, to $91.49.
Both contracts were retreating from their highest levels in more than 40 days.
Two chokepoints in play
Oil climbed on Thursday. Brent settled up 7% and WTI up 6.2% — the first time since May that Brent closed above $100.
The Houthis had declared a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia on Monday, targeting the pipeline route the kingdom used to bypass Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz. President Donald Trump vowed to hold Iran responsible for any further attacks. According to Reuters: “The noose around global energy supply routes is pulling tighter again,” IG analyst Tony Sycamore wrote.
Kazakhstan’s energy ministry also said on Thursday that producers temporarily cut output after suspected Ukrainian drone attacks forced the country’s main Black Sea export terminal to close. The Caspian Pipeline Consortium, which handles about 2% of global daily crude supply, stopped receiving Kazakh oil after loadings were suspended. The ministry did not specify the scale of the cuts, but one source said the country’s biggest field had cut output by more than half.
A possible off-ramp
Analyst Samer Hasn noted the U.S. has completed 13 nights of strikes against Iran, with the Strait of Hormuz still closed. He argued that rising fuel costs — WTI above $90 and pump gasoline above $4 a gallon — could nudge Trump toward a temporary de-escalation. A bond sell-off has already lifted ten-year Treasury yields to nearly 4.7%, their highest since January last year.
Sources: Reuters, Investing.com
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