Oil prices held steady in trading on Thursday, 12 November, after a sharp decline in early November. West Texas Intermediate was around $86 per barrel, while Brent stayed below $93 per barrel.
Easing tensions between Iran and the United States pressured prices, even though the two sides have made no meaningful progress in peace talks. WTI rose 0.6 percent on Wednesday.
Iran holds firm on enriched material
Mohsen Rezaee, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said Iran will not remove any enriched nuclear material from Iranian territory. He made the remarks in an interview with Al Mayadeen.
Iran’s position remains a sticking point in talks.
Supply signals mixed across the market
Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude exporter, reported to OPEC that its October output rose 26 percent, near a multi-year monthly high. Analysts see signs of a physical-market surplus as consumption remains limited.
Brian Martin and Daniel Hynes, analysts at ANZ Group Holdings Ltd., said supply is starting to recover. But they added that the recovery still depends on alternative routes rather than fully safe shipping lanes, so the risk of disruption remains.
Refinery attacks tighten diesel
Energy Aspects Ltd. said Ukraine has attacked seven Russian oil processing facilities since late October. The strikes add pressure on global diesel supply, which was already disrupted by the Iran war.
Brent is up more than 50 percent from a year earlier, according to the figures cited in the report.
