Oil Prices Plummet on Eased Saudi Supply Concerns

Oil prices dropped by 2% on Friday as concerns over Saudi supply disruptions eased. This marked the third consecutive day of losses for oil futures.

Brent crude futures fell $2.14, or 2%, to $102.68 a barrel by 0806 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate CLc1 futures dropped $1.83, or 1.8%, to $100.08.

PVM Oil Associates analyst Tamas Varga said that immediate concerns over supply tightness have been alleviated due to increased crude loadings via Oman, a build in oil product inventories in the U.S., Singapore, and Europe, as well as higher fuel exports from China.

While Saudi Arabia and Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis exchanged strikes across their border on Thursday, expanding the Middle East war front, markets largely shrugged off these concerns. Saudi Arabia is seeking to restore about half of its East-West oil pipeline capacity within days.