Oil Prices Drift Ahead of Year-End
Oil prices drifted in quiet year-end trading, with investors assessing the outlook for crude for 2025 while tracking developments in the Middle East.
West Texas Intermediate was steady above $69 a barrel, after falling 0.7% on Thursday, when Brent also fell. A 10-day volatility gauge for the U.S. crude benchmark has ebbed to its lowest level since 2021.
In the Middle East, Israel struck several targets in Yemen that it said were controlled by the Houthis, the last Iran-backed group still fully involved in a regional war that began 14 months ago.
Crude prices were on track to end the year with modest losses, though trading has been confined to a narrow range since mid-October.
There are widespread concerns that the market could be oversupplied next year as Chinese demand slows and global supplies rise, though traders remain cautious about the possibility of tighter U.S. sanctions on Iranian flows under a Donald Trump presidency.
Source: Bloomberg