Oil prices fell on Friday and were on track to post a sharp weekly drop amid uncertainty over the Iran war, after US President Donald Trump’s Republican Party suffered heavy losses in this week’s midterm elections.
Middle East supply concerns continue to support oil prices as the regional conflict drags on.
Brent, the benchmark for two thirds of the world's oil, was down 1.57 per cent at $96.75 a barrel at 1.57pm UAE time, while West Texas Intermediate, the gauge that tracks US crude, was trading 1.47 per cent lower at $89.19 a barrel. Brent is on track to drop about 12 per cent for the week, while WTI is set for a weekly loss of about 12.1 per cent.
Oil prices fell sharply this week after the US midterm elections, in which the Republicans were routed and the Democrats won control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The result is widely seen as a rebuke of Mr Trump over the war with Iran, a point US Vice President JD Vance made on social media.
"The reason we lost is the war. The President himself said so last night," he said in a post on X on Wednesday. "But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there."
Both benchmarks tumbled more than 8 per cent on Wednesday after the results to settle at their lowest levels since August 31, with Brent closing 8.7 per cent lower at $94.62 a barrel and WTI falling 8.3 per cent to $88.12.
Prices recouped some of those losses on Thursday and traded higher again in early trade on Friday, amid continuing uncertainty over the Iran war.
Mr Trump said he would soon decide whether to resume attacks on Iran or pursue an agreement after meeting his national security advisers.
"Now we will make a decision," he told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday. "I would rather not destroy the rest of the country if possible, but maybe I will have to. You’ll know soon enough."
Oil prices have been volatile since the conflict began in late February, with Brent futures briefly topping $126 a barrel in late April before easing amid talks to end the crisis.
Disruption to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important chokepoint for crude supply, has also supported prices, as tankers face attacks from Iran. Tehran said on Thursday that three more ships had been struck in the strait.
Houthi attacks on Saudi tankers in the Bab Al Mandeb strait, a chokepoint at the southern end of the Red Sea, have also stoked supply concerns about Opec’s biggest producer since the Yemeni militia declared a blockade on Saudi shipping in July.
Saudi Arabia also shut its East-West crude pipeline, a key bypass of the Strait of Hormuz, from September 11 to 22 after drone attacks that Riyadh said were launched from Iraq. The Houthis claimed further attacks on pumping stations along the pipeline in late October.
