Oil is heading for its biggest weekly gain since July, driven by the new exchange of attacks between the United States and Iran. Brent futures rose marginally 0.02% to 95.52 dollars a barrel, with accumulated weekly gains of around 7%. US crude WTI advanced 0.2% to 91.49 dollars a barrel, accumulating weekly gains of nearly 10%.
In Portugal, Refinitiv data indicates a high probability of a new escalation in road fuel prices next week. the National Association of Fuel Retailers estimated rises of 15 cents per litre for diesel and 10 cents for gasoline.
Last weekend marked the return of attacks in the Middle East after about a month of calm. On Sunday, the USA attacked two Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz, claiming that Iranian forces were preparing to launch new mines along this international maritime route. Iran retaliated by attacking US bases in Jordan, which led the USA to carry out new attacks that reportedly resulted in the deaths of dozens of people.
The war launched in February by the USA and Israel against the Iranian regime is already in its seventh month. Analysts from ANZ, cited by Reuters, explained that high inventories helped absorb the initial supply crisis, but that the challenge now is to keep the market balanced as this buffer gradually diminishes.
