Oil Prices Slide on Hopes of Limited Supply Disruptions

Oil prices declined by about 1% on Friday, extending losses for a third consecutive session. The Brent crude futures fell $1.01 to $103.77 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate futures dropped $1.03 to $100.88 a barrel.

The decline was attributed to hopes of limited supply disruptions despite ongoing tensions between Saudi Arabia and Yemen's Houthis. Markets largely shrugged off concerns about new threats to supplies, with some optimism surrounding alternate ways for barrels from the Middle East to reach markets.

Saudi Arabia had suspended crude loadings at its Red Sea export hub of Yanbu and cancelled some deliveries to Europe after an attack on its East-West pipeline last week. The closure of the pipeline could cut off as much as 4% of global oil supply, traders said.

However, sources suggested that Saudi Arabia was seeking to return about half the capacity of its East-West oil pipeline within days and was offering more crude cargoes to Asian refiners through ship-to-ship transfers off Oman's Sohar port. US Energy Secretary Chris Wright stated that crude should be flowing through the pipeline within days.