Oil prices up over supply deficit fears

Oil prices rose on Friday as investors fretted about worsening supply shortages for the remainder of the year.

International benchmark crude Brent traded at $89.32 per barrel at 10.03 a.m. local time (0703 GMT), a 1.58% rise from the closing price of $87.93 a barrel in the previous trading session on Thursday.

The American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) traded at the same time at $84.58 per barrel, up 1.65% from Thursday’s close of $83.21 per barrel.

Supply-side shortages remain the focus in oil markets. The ongoing conflict between Palestine and Israel is generating fears of the possibility of a regional spillover, endangering infrastructure damage, and consequently deepening the supply deficit predicted for the rest of the year.

The US military launched airstrikes on two facilities used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and affiliated groups in eastern Syria, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday.

According to the defense chief, ‘these precision self-defense strikes are a response to a series of ongoing and mostly unsuccessful attacks against US personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-backed militia groups that began on Oct. 17.’

Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said on Thursday that between Oct. 17 and 26, US and coalition forces have been attacked at least 12 separate times in Iraq and four separate times in Syria.

Ryder, not providing names for the groups that are responsible for these attacks, said ‘We know that these groups are affiliated with Iran.’

He also confirmed that ‘approximately 900 troops have subsequently deployed or are in the process of deploying’ to the Middle East.

• American Benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI)