Oil futures were little changed in early action Tuesday, steadying after ending the previous session around two-week highs after attacks on ships in the Red Sea stoked worries over potential supply disruptions.
Price action
-
West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery
CL.1,
-0.01% CLF24,
-0.01%
was up 1 cent at $72.48 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. -
February Brent crude
BRN00,
-0.09% BRNG24,
-0.09% ,
the global benchmark, rose 8 cents, or 0.1%, to $78.03 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.
Market drivers
Brent and WTI closed Monday at their highest since Dec. 4, finding support after oil major BP PLC
BP,
BP,
said it was temporarily suspending shipments through the Red Sea. Several shipping companies had previously announced they would pause shipments due to a series of drone and missile attacks by Houthi rebels, who largely control Yemen, since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
Read: Attacks in the Red Sea add to global shipping woes
Crude prices had risen modestly after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel on fears of a wider conflict, but soon gave up those gains to trade at roughly six-month lows early last week before seeing a modest bounce.
The BP announcement on Monday “briefly sparked panic about a major disruption to global supply,” said Raffi Boyadjian, lead investment analyst at XM, in a note. “However, with U.S. warships already in the region to fend off the attacks, it seems that markets aren’t too worried about a further escalation and oil prices are steadier today, easing from yesterday’s two-week highs.”
