Rising Middle East Tensions Propel Oil Prices to Weekly Victory

Global oil prices maintained their upward momentum on Friday, on track for another weekly victory driven by rising tensions in the Middle East after Israel rejected a ceasefire offer.

Brent crude is currently trading at $81.43 per barrel, up by 0.04% on the day.

While West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) is trading at $76.45 per barrel, up by 0.18% on the day.

The tensions have kept oil prices elevated, with Brent and WTI both set to gain nearly 6% for the week.

To note, both benchmarks are on track for their fifth consecutive daily gain, marking the highest daily streak since December.

"With the words that, 'no part of the Gaza Strip would be immune from Israel's offensive', it was not hard for oil participants to conclude that without even a passing regard for peace, there was not enough conflict-premium priced in," PVM analyst John Evans said, as Reuters reported.

U.S. officials made their most pointed criticism so far of Israel's civilian casualties in Gaza as it turned the focus of its offensive to Rafah.

A Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo on Thursday for ceasefire talks with mediators Egypt and Qatar.

While the conflict has propped up prices, there has been no impact on oil production.

Non-OPEC output from Norway and Guyana is increasing while Russia is exporting more crude in February than it planned under an OPEC+ deal, following a combination of drone attacks and technical outages at its refineries.

The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday sanctioned another three entities based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and one tanker registered by Liberia for violating a cap placed on the price of Russian oil by a coalition of Western nations.

Deflation risks in China, the world's top crude oil importer, are also weighing on global oil prices, IG analyst Tony Sycamore said.