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Crude oil falls as shipping disruptions widen across multiple routes
WTI is down more than 1.5% near $82.00 and Brent is near $86.50 after drone strikes and disruptions affect cargo corridors tied to Saudi exports.
Crude oil prices are lower on Thursday as shipping disruptions expand across several export routes, with the market interpreting the move more as a shipping negotiation and attacks on infrastructure than a clear step toward de escalation, FXStreet reports.
WTI is trading just above $82.00, down more than 1.5%, and Brent is holding just above $86.50 after both pared back a portion of Wednesday's rally. The day’s weakness coincides with a drone strike on two gas vessels at Egypt's Damietta port on Wednesday, which Cairo said was the cause of a fire involving a floating storage unit and a carrier alongside it, with no responsibility claimed.
FXStreet says Egypt had been left alone since late February, which has mattered because the Suez Canal and a pipeline crossing Egyptian territory have served as a safe northbound route for Saudi cargoes since Hormuz disruptions began. Meanwhile, the southern bypass has also been targeted, including a claim by Yemen's Houthis of a strike on an East-West pipeline carrying Saudi barrels to the Red Sea port of Yanbu.
Beyond the Middle East, the report highlights disruption to Kazakhstan’s export route via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, which halted loading at its terminal on Russia’s Black Sea coast after drones hit a tanker taking on cargo and another waiting to load. FXStreet notes that separate discussions over the Strait are not about ending the conflict, pointing instead to a scenario where transit could reopen under Iranian supervision with a fee attached.
Latest closeWTI crude $84.21 ▼0.3%|Brent $89.45 ▼1.4%