Oil prices slide for second week, raising hopes of fuel price cut

Oil prices have weakened for a second-consecutive 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.

If the oil price is sustained, this could result in a fuel price decrease as well as persuade the Reserve Bank not to raise interest rates when the monetary policy committee meets this month.

Brent futures settled at $95.84 (R1 627) a barrel, up 2 cents, or 0.02%. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures finished at $88.56 a barrel, down 0.20%. For the week, Brent and WTI were both on track for a drop of about 2.5%. The benchmarks fell 16% and 13%, respectively.

With lower geopolitical risk from the US-Israeli war against Iran and the release on Friday of an International Energy Agency report pointing to a rise in the global oil surplus, the market is going through a major shift.

“It’s clear the biggest fear a few months ago was a fear of shortage,” said Phil Flynn, a senior analyst with the Price Futures Group. “Now it looks like the biggest fear is a surplus.”

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 Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis and attacks on tankers shipping crude out of the Gulf.

US President Donald Trump said a deal with Iran was not necessary to end the war. “The oil market is torn between increased supply coming out of the Middle East and that there hasn’t been any change in the negotiating positions of the United States and Iran,” said Andrew Lipow, the president of Lipow Oil Associates.

US crude and fuel inventories rose last week, driven by softer refined products demand and a jump in oil imports, the Energy Information Administration said. Despite the easing prices, risks remain for oil shipments out of the Strait of Hormuz.

Oil prices have weakened for a second-consecutive 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.

If the oil price is sustained, this could result in a fuel price decrease as well as persuade the Reserve Bank not to raise interest rates when the monetary policy committee meets this month.

Brent futures settled at $95.84 (R1 627) a barrel, up 2 cents, or 0.02%. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures finished at $88.56 a barrel, down 0.20%. For the week, Brent and WTI were both on track for a drop of about 2.5%. The benchmarks fell 16% and 13%, respectively.

With lower geopolitical risk from the US-Israeli war against Iran and the release on Friday of an International Energy Agency report pointing to a rise in the global oil surplus, the market is going through a major shift.

“It’s clear the biggest fear a few months ago was a fear of shortage,” said Phil Flynn, a senior analyst with the Price Futures Group. “Now it looks like the biggest fear is a surplus.”

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 Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis and attacks on tankers shipping crude out of the Gulf.

US President Donald Trump said a deal with Iran was not necessary to end the war. “The oil market is torn between increased supply coming out of the Middle East and that there hasn’t been any change in the negotiating positions of the United States and Iran,” said Andrew Lipow, the president of Lipow Oil Associates.

US crude and fuel inventories rose last week, driven by softer refined products demand and a jump in oil imports, the Energy Information Administration said. Despite the easing prices, risks remain for oil shipments out of the Strait of Hormuz.

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Oil prices have weakened for a second-consecutive 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.

If the oil price is sustained, this could result in a fuel price decrease as well as persuade the Reserve Bank not to raise interest rates when the monetary policy committee meets this month.

Brent futures settled at $95.84 (R1 627) a barrel, up 2 cents, or 0.02%. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures finished at $88.56 a barrel, down 0.20%. For the week, Brent and WTI were both on track for a drop of about 2.5%. The benchmarks fell 16% and 13%, respectively.

With lower geopolitical risk from the US-Israeli war against Iran and the release on Friday of an International Energy Agency report pointing to a rise in the global oil surplus, the market is going through a major shift.

“It’s clear the biggest fear a few months ago was a fear of shortage,” said Phil Flynn, a senior analyst with the Price Futures Group. “Now it looks like the biggest fear is a surplus.”

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 Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis and attacks on tankers shipping crude out of the Gulf.

US President Donald Trump said a deal with Iran was not necessary to end the war. “The oil market is torn between increased supply coming out of the Middle East and that there hasn’t been any change in the negotiating positions of the United States and Iran,” said Andrew Lipow, the president of Lipow Oil Associates.

US crude and fuel inventories rose last week, driven by softer refined products demand and a jump in oil imports, the Energy Information Administration said. Despite the easing prices, risks remain for oil shipments out of the Strait of Hormuz.