Oil steadied as hostilities between Iran and the US remained muted with no indication of progress in peace talks.
West Texas Intermediate traded near $86 a barrel, after rising 0.6% on Wednesday, while Brent settled below $93. Iran won’t remove “a single atom” of enriched nuclear material from the country, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Mohsen Rezaee said in an interview with Al Mayadeen, addressing one of the key US conditions for negotiations.
Brent is up more than 50% this year, but prices have reversed sharply in November on hopes the conflict will ease and as Persian Gulf energy shipments rise. Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude exporter, told OPEC its production rose 26% in October to one of the highest monthly levels in years.
The increase illustrates the success of the Saudis and other exporters around the Persian Gulf in restoring flows despite the unresolved conflict and a wave of Iranian attacks on tankers. The tide of oil is showing up in physical markets at a time when consumption remains constrained, weakening price differentials and creating some signs of a surplus.
“Supply is recovering, but it relies on workarounds rather than secure shipping lanes, so disruption risk remains,” ANZ Group Holdings Ltd. analysts Brian Martin and Daniel Hynes said in a note. “With both sides still far apart, markets will keep pricing in a geopolitical premium despite October’s production recovery.”