Strong Thursday Gains Amid On-Going Supply Concerns

Brent crude climbed nearly 3% for Thursday's session, staying on the front foot post the Asia close. We last tracked near $82.30/bbl . This leaves us comfortably up for the week. The front month WTI contract rose by the same amount, finishing up on Thursday at $77.36/bbl.

• On Thursday supply concerns were arguably the more dominant driver of sentiment. Concerns for freight availability and supply amid Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, coupled with Ukrainian drone strikes on Russia energy infrastructure, have added geopolitical risk premiums to prices.
• Also in the US, North Dakota oil production was disrupted by 130-180kbpd due to cold weather according to the pipeline authority on Thursday.
• Elsewhere, Iran is under extreme sanctions by the US which is significantly bringing down Iran’s oil exports, Amos Hochstein, the US Energy Security Advisor said to Bloomberg.
• Both oil benchmarks are at fresh highs back to late Nov last year. $84.22 (Nov 30 high) for Brent is the next upside target, while for WTI, $77.48 (Fibo retrace of Sep 19 – Dec 13 bear leg) after which lies $79.56 (Nov 30 high) are in focus.