Daily Times

Crude oil prices edged lower on Monday after making their biggest weekly gain of over 6 percent since October last week as fears about the Red Sea supply disruptions continue to rise on mounting tension in the Middle East.

As of 1405 hours GMT, Brent, the international benchmark for two-thirds of the world’s oil, shed $0.61 (-0.73 percent) to reach $82.94 a barrel. Similarly, the West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the main oil benchmark for North America, went down by $0.56 (-0.72 percent) to $77.45 a barrel.

Both Brent and WTI ended the last week higher by 6.35 percent and 6.27 percent, respectively. Brent rose to $83.55 a barrel from $78.56 a barrel last week, showing an increase of $4.99 on a week-on-week (WoW) basis. Similarly, WTI closed the week higher to $78.01 from $73.41 a barrel, registering a weekly increase of $4.60. Both benchmarks shed more than 10 percent in 2023 on a year-on-year basis. On the other hand, the price of Russian Sokol increased by $1.55 (+2.05 percent) to $77.08. Arab Light prices witnessed an increase of $1.35 (+1.63 percent) to reach $83.93 a barrel. Similarly, the price for Opec Basket increased to $81.98 a barrel with an uptick of $0.93 (+1.15 percent). The OPEC Reference Basket of Crudes (ORB) is made up of Saharan Blend, Girassol, Djeno, Zafiro, Rabi Light, Iran Heavy, Basra Light, Kuwait Export, Es Sider, Bonny Light, Arab Light, Murban and Merey.