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SINGAPORE: Oil prices slid to their \u200blowest in more than a week on Monday on hopes diplomacy in the Iran war will get a chance \u200cthis week amid a UN meet and as investors eyed a partial recovery in shipments from Saudi Arabia despite ongoing attacks by Yemen\u2019s Houthis.<\/p>\n
Brent crude futures and US West Texas Intermediate crude touched their lowest since Sept. 10 earlier on Monday, with Brent at $101.71 a barrel by 05:13 a.m. Saudi time, down $2.16, or \u200b2.08 percent, after settling 0.91 percent lower on Friday.<\/p>\n
US West Texas Intermediate crude lost $2.15, or 2.14 percent, to $98.15 a barrel following a 1.58 percent \u200bdrop in the previous session.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt seems that a degree of risk premium is being removed from \u2060oil prices on hopes that a diplomatic path to de-escalate the US-Iran war may arrive this week,\u201d Tim Waterer, chief market analyst \u200bat KCM Trade, said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether that hope proves to be warranted or not is another question. Time will tell.\u201d<\/p>\n
The WTI broke a key \u200bpsychological support at $100 a barrel while some investors may have rolled over their positions in the October contract a day ahead of expiry to November, a Singapore-based broker said.<\/p>\n
Iran and the US exchanged new threats<\/u> on Sunday amid the stalemate, although President Donald Trump said he would be open to meeting Iranian \u200bPresident Masoud Pezeshkian, who is expected to be in New York this week for the UN General Assembly.<\/p>\n
Iran has conveyed its conditions \u200bto mediators for re-engaging in negotiations aimed at ending the war with the US, Al Jazeera cited Iran\u2019s security chief, Mohsen Rezaei, as saying in \u200can interview \u2060on Saturday.<\/p>\n
However, tensions in the Middle East remained elevated as Yemen\u2019s Iran-backed Houthis said they attacked \u201csensitive\u201d sites in the Saudi capital of Riyadh on Saturday with missiles and drones, as well as an Aramco facility in the Red Sea city of Yanbu, a key oil export hub.<\/p>\n
China has asked Iran<\/u> to help rein in the Houthis after an appeal to Beijing by Saudi Arabia following the attacks, according \u200bto three Iranian sources familiar \u200bwith the matter.<\/p>\n
The attacks by \u2060the Houthis on Saudi Aramco\u2019s East-West pipeline<\/u> have prompted the state energy firm to increase exports<\/u> through the Strait of Hormuz this month and next after halting some shipments<\/u> via Yanbu.<\/p>\n
That enabled exports from the OPEC kingpin \u200bto recover to over 4 million barrels per day (bpd) so far in September after slumping to \u200b2.4 million bpd \u2060in August, the lowest since at least 2013, according to provisional data from analytics firm Kpler.<\/p>\n
\u201cMiddle East oil flows remain surprisingly strong despite the disruption to Saudi Arabia\u2019s East-West pipeline,\u201d JPMorgan analysts said in a Sept. 18 note, adding that the total oil flows averaged 17.1 million \u2060bpd in \u200bthe past 10 days, just 6.1 million bpd below the 2025 average.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe most \u200bnotable pivot has come from Saudi Arabia,\u201d the analysts said, as satellite data indicated Saudi oil moving through the Strait of Hormuz averaged 2.9 million bpd over \u200bthe past six days, up from just 700,000 bpd in August.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n