11/10/2019 17:00
Oil jumps briefly after reports of Iranian tanker attack
Oil prices rose as high as $60.65 a barrel on Friday after Iranian media said a state-owned oil tanker had been struck by missiles in the Red Sea near Saudi Arabia, but bearish oil demand forecasts soon pulled crude off session highs.
The Iranian Suezmax crude tanker was struck in the Red Sea off Saudi Arabia’s coast on Friday, Iranian media said, with various reports differing on the level of damage caused.
The National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) said the ship was damaged but stable and denied reports it had been set ablaze.
Both oil benchmarks recorded their biggest daily rise since Sept. 16, the first trading day after attacks on Saudi installations knocked out more than half of the kingdom’s crude output and temporarily pushed oil prices up by about 20%.
Friday’s initial boost from the Iranian news wore off as trading continued. Brent crude futures LCOc1 were up 60 cents at $59.70 a barrel by 1128 GMT and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 futures rose 76 cents to $54.31.