Oil set for second weekly loss as Trump keeps Iran blockade

Oil prices were mixed on Friday, November 13, and on course for a second straight weekly loss. President Donald Trump said on Truth Social that the United States did not need a deal with Iran to end the war, which Reuters reported via CNBC suggested Washington would keep its blockade of Iranian oil shipments and trade in place along with economic sanctions. Traders took this to mean continued economic pressure rather than a return to large-scale fighting. Even so, attacks on tankers and on Saudi energy sites kept supply risks in view.cnbc.com

By midday in London, Brent was trading slightly higher, near $96 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate edged lower. Both benchmarks were on track to lose about 2% for the week after falling 16% and 13% the week before, according to Reuters.newsobserver.com

Pressure without a deal

Trump said the U.S. had built strong financial leverage over Iran and secured control of the Strait of Hormuz, Investing.com reported. He also told Vice President JD Vance to focus on domestic priorities instead of talks with Tehran. Sugandha Sachdeva of New Delhi-based SS WealthStreet said Trump's remarks "have raised expectations that Washington could increasingly rely on economic sanctions and restrictions on oil shipments rather than intensifying military operations," Reuters reported.ca.finance.yahoo.com+1

Jeff Currie, founder of Real Macro and former head of commodities research at Goldman Sachs, said "the market is range-bound post midterms." He added that there seemed to be little chance of either more fighting or a peace deal, according to Reuters.newsobserver.com

Weaker demand also weighed on prices. U.S. crude stocks rose by 4.7 million barrels to 414.4 million barrels in the week ended November 6, while analysts had expected a draw, the Energy Information Administration said, as cited by CNBC. The International Energy Agency said global supply now exceeds demand for the first time since the war began in late February, and Gulf crude exports have recovered to about three-quarters of pre-war levels, Investing.com reported.cnbc.com+1

Shipping and infrastructure risks

The war, now in its ninth month, still threatens supply. On Thursday, Iran's military said four oil tankers were hit by explosions in the Strait of Hormuz after ignoring warnings, though Reuters could not verify the claim, CNBC reported. The same day, Yemen's Houthis said they struck a pumping station on Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline, an oil facility in Yanbu and a Saudi Aramco building in Riyadh.cnbc.com

Risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft counted 36 confirmed attacks on commercial ships in the Persian Gulf region in October, the most in any month since the conflict started, Investing.com reported. "Geopolitical risks remain elevated, and any fresh disruption to oil supplies could quickly reignite upward pressure on prices," Sachdeva said, according to Reuters.ca.finance.yahoo.com+1