(London) Oil prices stabilized in positive territory on Thursday, with the geopolitical risk premium returning to the market after threats from the leader of Hezbollah against Israel and the announcement of a possible offensive in Lebanon, and before data on American stocks.
Around 6:55 a.m. (Eastern time), the price of a barrel of North Sea Brent, for delivery in August, rose 0.27% to $85.30.
Its American equivalent, the barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI), for delivery in July, for which this is the last day of trading, gained some 0.02% to 81.59 dollars.
The war that broke out on October 7 in Gaza after an attack by the Islamist movement Hamas on Israeli soil has sparked an outbreak of violence on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon. Exchanges of fire between the army and Lebanese Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, have intensified recently.
In a televised speech on Wednesday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned that “no place” in Israel would be spared from his movement’s missiles if it attacked Lebanon.
The Israeli army indicated Tuesday evening that it had approved plans for an offensive in Lebanon against a backdrop of intensifying cross-border clashes with the militia of the Lebanese Islamist movement.
“Such a scenario would likely disrupt [oil] production in the Gulf region and risk interrupting traffic through the Suez Canal,” he continues.
At the same time, investors are awaiting the publication on Thursday of the weekly report from the US Energy Information Agency (EIA) on the state of oil stocks for the week ended June 14.
The API, the American federation of professionals in the sector, reported on Tuesday an increase in commercial crude reserves of around 2.3 million barrels per day last week, and a decrease of almost 1. 1 million barrels per day for gasoline.
Analysts are predicting a significant drop in commercial crude oil reserves.
