Crude oil and refined product prices have backed off strong early gains, but remained in positive territory Friday morning as unrest in the Middle East region continued to support energy prices.
Crude contracts were up by about $1/bbl as of 11:25 a.m. ET while refined products were ahead by more than 1ct/gal.
Despite the gains, crude contracts were on track to end the week close to where they began, while refined products should see another week of gains.
Friday's gains were driven by news that the U.S. and U.K. launched overnight military strikes against Houthis in Yemen in retaliation for a series of ongoing attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.
The strikes have fanned concerns that the war between Israel and Hamas could widen.
Those concerns sent oil prices up by more than $3/bbl earlier Friday before the pullback. The NYMEX February West Texas Intermediate contract was $1.11 higher at $73.13/bbl as afternoon approached while the March contract was up by $1.10 to $73.19/bbl. Brent crude gains were a bit stronger, with the March contract advancing $1.21 to $78.62/bbl and April prices rising by a similar amount to $78.32/bbl.
WTI contracts are currently about 70cts below where they settled a week ago, while Brent contracts are about 20cts below last Friday's settlement.
Gasoline futures were about 7cts/gal below morning highs, leaving the NYMEX February RBOB contract up 1.58cts to $2.1301/gal. The March contract was 1.5cts higher at $2.1515/gal.
The NYMEX February ULSD contract was up 1.6cts to $2.6898/gal, about 6cts off earlier highs. The March contract was up 1.63cts to $2.6307/gal.
This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
--Reporting by Steve Cronin, scronin@opisnet.com; Editing by Jeff Barber, jbarber@opisnet.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
01-12-24 1223ET
