By Florence Tan
SINGAPORE, June 29 (Reuters) – Oil prices rose on Monday following days of tit-for-tat strikes by the United States and Iran in the Middle East that underscored the fragility of their interim peace deal and again slowed energy shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
Brent crude futures climbed 52 cents, or 0.672%, to $72.51 a barrel by 2313 GMT while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $69.94 a barrel, up 71 cents, or 1.03%.
Brent crude fell 10.6% last week, its third weekly decline, after crude shipments through the strait rose last week to their highest level since the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran began in February.
However, traffic has since slowed following renewed attacks on ships in the strait from Thursday, including a Qatar-linked oil tanker, that triggered strikes from the U.S. and Iran in the worst escalation since they signed an interim peace deal.
“The market is likely to re-evaluate its assumption of a quick recovery of oil supply from the Persian Gulf,” ANZ analysts said in a note.
Capping oil price gains, Iran and the United States agreed to halt recent hostilities in the Gulf and renew talks in Qatar regarding their dispute over the Strait of Hormuz, Axios reported on Sunday. Reuters could not immediately confirm the report.
Saudi oil giant Aramco resumed crude oil loadings on Friday at its Ras Tanura terminal, west of the Strait of Hormuz, after they were halted for nearly four months, joining a rush to move cargoes after Middle East producers ramped up oil and gas output and exports ahead of the interim deal.
“Despite the U.S.-Iran deal marking an inflection point for oil markets, physical flows are constrained by tanker backlogs, damaged infrastructure and production shut-ins,” ANZ analysts said.
“It could take the remainder of the year before supply is near pre-conflict levels.”
Loadings at Aramco’s Ras Tanura terminal continued, even after a helicopter belonging to the company crashed on Sunday in Ras Tanura on the country’s east coast on the Gulf, killing 14 nationals. The cause of the crash was unknown, the state news agency reported.
(Reporting by Florence Tan; Editing by Edmund Klamann and Sonali Paul)
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