Oil heads for weekly gains amid Red Sea attacks and Kazakhstan production cuts

Oil prices are heading toward weekly gains on Friday, as Houthi attacks on two oil tankers in the Red Sea have sparked fears of a closure of a second strategic shipping lane, while Kazakhstan temporarily cut production after its main export route was forcibly shut down.

By 01:26 GMT, Brent crude futures fell 72 cents, or 0.72 percent, to $99.97 a barrel, but were on track to post a weekly gain of 13.5 percent.

West Texas Intermediate crude futures dropped 70 cents, or 0.76 percent, to $91.49 a barrel, on track to register a weekly rise of 10.9 percent.

Brent crude rose 7 percent and US crude rose 6.2 percent at Thursday’s settlement, with Brent surpassing $100 a barrel for the first time since May, following the announcement by Iran-aligned Houthis that they had targeted two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea.

Prices surged following the attacks, which fueled concerns about the closure of the Bab al-Mandab strait, which controls access from the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean and is the second most important route for oil shipments after the Strait of Hormuz.

“Tightening the noose around global energy supply routes once again,” IG market analyst Tony Sycamore wrote in a note.

Meanwhile, Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Energy said on Thursday that oil companies had temporarily cut production after the country’s main export terminal on the Black Sea was forced to shut down following attacks suspected to have been carried out by Ukraine.

Sector sources had said on Tuesday that the Caspian Pipeline Consortium had stopped receiving oil from Kazakhstan after loading operations were suspended due to attacks on two oil tankers at the terminal.

This route handles about 2 percent of global daily crude oil supplies.

The Ministry of Energy did not specify the volume of production cuts, but one source said the country’s largest oil field had cut output by more than half.