Saudi Supply Disruptions Eased, Oil Prices Decline for Third Day

Oil prices declined for a third consecutive day on Friday as concerns about Saudi supply disruptions eased. The Brent crude futures price fell by $0.79 or 0.75%, to $104 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate futures dropped $0.70 or 0.69%, to $101.20 a barrel.

Despite fresh fighting between Saudi Arabia and Yemen's Houthis, markets largely shrugged off the conflict. The escalation of hostilities had earlier pushed oil prices close to four-month highs as sources said crude loadings at Saudi Arabia's Red Sea export hub of Yanbu had been suspended and Riyadh cancelled some deliveries to Europe after its East-West pipeline was damaged in an attack last week.

However, reports that Saudi Arabia is seeking to return about half the capacity of its East-West oil pipeline within days and offering more crude cargoes to Asian refiners through ship-to-ship transfers off Oman's port of Sohar have cooled off prices. 'Recent efforts to restore Saudi export capacity have reduced some of the immediate supply anxiety,' said Priyanka Sachdeva, head of market insights at Phillip Nova.