Weekly Crude Oil Prices Record a 17% Increase
WANA (Mar 07) – Brent crude oil traded close to $94 per barrel, putting it on track for its sharpest weekly gain since tensions between Moscow and Kyiv began in 2022.
According to Reuters, crude oil prices in Friday’s trading session (March 6) eased slightly after Washington issued waivers allowing the purchase of Russian oil to offset tightening supply constraints. Nevertheless, the weekly price of this strategic commodity is still heading toward its largest weekly surge since the Russia–Ukraine tensions began in February 2022.
So far this week, Brent crude has risen by 17.2%, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) has recorded a 20% increase, gains that have largely overshadowed Friday’s decline.
Brent crude reached $92.64 per barrel, while gasoline prices in the United States rose by 8.5%. At the same time, WTI crude fell by 61 cents (0.8%) to $60.40 per barrel.
Oil prices surged sharply following U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran on Saturday (February 28). In response, Iran halted oil tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz, a route through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s daily oil supply passes.
Since then, military clashes have spread across key energy-producing regions in the Middle East, disrupting oil production and forcing the shutdown of refineries and liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities.
Priyanka Sachdeva, senior market analyst at Phillip Nova, said that with each passing day, the halt of activity in the Strait of Hormuz could have two major effects on the oil market: first, reducing the daily storage capacity of about 20 million barrels, and second, restricting the supply reaching global markets. According to her, these conditions could push global energy prices even higher.
IRGC: Violating Oil Tanker Prima Struck
WANA (Mar 07) – The Public Relations Office of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced that earlier this morning, an oil tanker operating under the commercial name Prima was struck by a suicide drone after it ignored repeated warnings from the IRGC Navy regarding the prohibition of passage and the unsafe conditions in the […]
A White House official said the U.S. Treasury Department is expected to introduce measures to counter rising energy prices caused by Middle East tensions. The expectation initially pushed prices down by more than 1% in early Friday trading.
However, losses eased after Bloomberg reported that the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump had ruled out allowing the Treasury Department to intervene in the oil futures trading market.
On Thursday, the U.S. Treasury Department granted companies waivers to begin purchasing sanctioned Russian oil stored on tankers, in an effort to ease supply constraints that had pushed Asian refineries to cut processing rates.
The first waivers were granted to Indian refineries.
Data from the ship-tracking company Kpler shows that around 30 million barrels of Russian oil are currently located in the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea region, and the Singapore Strait, including volumes stored in floating storage as well as cargo already loaded on tankers.
Despite the recent surge, the price increase is still modest compared with previous shocks such as 2022, when the Moscow–Kyiv tensions pushed oil prices above $100 per barrel.
Tony Sycamore, an analyst at IG, said on Friday: “While crude oil prices have risen by around 20% this month, they are currently only $3.40 above the four-year average.”
