[International Oil Prices] Down for Third Straight Day; Brent Crude in the $103 Range

[Financial News]  

International oil prices continued to fall for a third straight day on the 18th (local time), amid expectations that the disruption to Saudi Arabia's crude oil supply would not be prolonged.
Brent crude for November delivery, the international oil benchmark, fell 0.91% from the previous session to settle at $103.87 a barrel. Prices that had approached $110 dropped into the $103 range.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for October delivery, the U.S. oil benchmark, also fell 1.58% to settle at $100.30 a barrel.
Brent crude fell nearly 1% on a weekly basis, while WTI was little changed. However, both benchmarks had surged more than 5% since Saudi Arabia's East-West Pipeline was damaged in an attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels on the 10th.
According to CNBC, Natasha Kaneva, JPMorgan Chase's global head of commodity strategy, noted in an analysis note on the 18th that "Middle East oil logistics are surprisingly resilient despite the disruption to Saudi Arabia's East-West Pipeline."
JPMorgan Chase estimated that an average of about 17 million barrels of Middle Eastern crude was exported each day over the past 10 days. That was about 6 million barrels per day less than a year earlier.
Kaneva said satellite images showed that Saudi Arabia had exported 2.8 million barrels through the Strait of Hormuz over the past six days, a volume far exceeding the 700,000 barrels per day recorded in August. According to Kaneva, Saudi Arabia's crude exports reached 5 million barrels on the 15th based on a 10-day moving average.
She cautioned, however, that this trend may be difficult to sustain. "The response measures appear to be working for now, but that is because Iran has allowed them," she said, warning that "the situation could change dramatically" if Iran changed its mind.

[email protected] Song Kyung-jae Reporter