ISLAMABAD
Crude oil prices increased on Friday and were on track to record a second straight weekly gain due to fears about Red Sea supply disruptions.
As of 1200 hours GMT, Brent, the international benchmark for two-thirds of the world’s oil, gained $0.44 (+0.55 percent) to reach $79.83 a barrel. The West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the main oil benchmark for North America, went up by $0.57 (+0.77 percent) to $74.46 a barrel. Brent rose by $0.71 on WoW last week while WTI closed last week higher by $0.20.
Similarly, the price of Russian Sokol increased by $0.48 (+0.65 percent) to $74.10. Arab Light prices witnessed an increase of $0.61 (+0.74 percent) to reach $82.87 a barrel. On the other hand, the price for Opec Basket went up to $79.19 a barrel with an increase of $0.72 (+0.92 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.
Angola, Africa’s second-largest oil producer, announced on Thursday that it was leaving the oil producer’s alliance (OPEC+) following a dispute over production quotas. “We feel that at the moment Angola does not gain anything by remaining in the organisation and, in defence of its interests, it has decided to leave,” Diamantino Azevedo, Angola’s Minister of Mineral Resources, Petroleum and Gas, was quoted as saying by local media.
Angola, which joined Opec in 2007, produces about 1.1 million barrels of oil per day, compared with Opec’s production of about 28 million bpd. The country’s exit will reduce Opec’s membership to 12 countries and its crude oil production to about 27 million bpd, or some 27 percent of the global oil market. Last month, Angola was given a target of sticking to 1.11 million bpd of output in 2024.
Brent is down nearly 4 percent since Opec+ members announced voluntary output cuts of 2.2 million bpd on November 30. Saudi Arabia, the group’s largest producer, extended its voluntary cut of 1 million bpd until the end of March next year.
Meanwhile, Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd and Hong Kong’s OOCL have joined a growing list of major shipping companies that have said they would avoid the Red Sea, in response to attacks on shipping by Yemeni Houthi rebels. Hapag-Lloyd will reroute 25 ships by the end of the year from the key waterway as freight rates and shipping stocks have increased because of the disruption.
About 12 percent of the seaborne oil trade and 8 percent of liquefied natural gas pass through Bab El Mandeb, the strait at the southern edge of the Red Sea.
