Oil futures were little changed Tuesday as U.S. traders returned from the Christmas holiday, losing ground as worries eased around the potential for significant disruptions to crude supplies as a result of attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.
Price action
-
West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery
CL00,
+0.38% CL.1,
+0.38% CLG24,
+0.38%
was unchanged at $73.56 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. -
February Brent crude
BRN00,
+0.43% ,
the global benchmark, was up 7 cents, or 0.1%, at $79.14 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe. -
January gasoline
RBF24,
+0.38%
rose 0.1% to $2.144 a gallon, while January heating oil
HOF24,
+0.56%
was flat at $2.661 a gallon. - January natural gas dropped 4.6% to $2.489 per million British thermal units.
Market drivers
Oil futures have seen choppy trade as U.S. market participants return from the Christmas holiday. A number of markets in Europe remain closed Tuesday, making for thin trading conditions.
Shipping firm Maersk on Sunday said it would allow vessels to resume sailing through the Red Sea, thanks to the start of a U.S.-led multinational naval operation to protect shipping from attacks by Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Brent crude rose 3.3% last week, while WTI gained 2.5%. Crude found support as shipping companies suspended shipments through the Red Sea after a series of drone and missile attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
The Maersk announcement took some steam out of crude prices, said Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, in a note.
The naval operation “aims to safeguard vessels from potential attacks by Houthi rebels based in Yemen. Consequently, this development signals a positive step towards restoring secure maritime transit in the region,” he said, in a note.
