Oil turned lower after earlier touching the highest price since April as investors weighed a stronger dollar against risks to commodity ships in the Black Sea.
(Bloomberg) — Oil turned lower after earlier touching the highest price since April as investors weighed a stronger dollar against risks to commodity ships in the Black Sea.
West Texas Intermediate traded near $82 a barrel at the start of the week after rising more than 4% over the previous two sessions. In recent days, sea drones hit a Russian oil tanker and naval vessel. While exports are continuing, the attacks highlight the threat to fuel flows on a key route to global markets.
“Prices tend to only react when there is a disruption,” said Giovanni Staunovo, a commodity analyst at UBS Group AG. “At the moment, the oil is still flowing.”
With the elevated risks in the Black Sea doing little to propel prices, there were instead headwinds from mixed equity trading and a firmer dollar on Monday. A strengthening greenback makes commodities priced in the currency more expensive.
Oil capped a sixth weekly gain last week, the longest rising streak since June 2022. Futures have erased year-to-date losses as supply cuts from Saudi Arabia and Russia tighten the market. On Saturday, the kingdom raised almost all of its prices for September to Asia and Europe.
In central Europe, Poland has stopped shipping oil through a section of the Druzhba link running to Germany after detecting a leak late Saturday, according to pipeline operator PERN. The firm plans to resume pumping Tuesday morning.
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