Oil remains steady this week as US dollar strengthens; Brent etches $85/bbl

Due to a stronger US currency and the prospect of a ceasefire in Gaza, crude oil prices fell during the previous session and remained unchanged for the entire week. According to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, negotiations in Qatar may result in an agreement between Israel and Hamas on a cease-fire in Gaza.

US crude ended the day 44 cents down, at $80.63 a barrel. According to news agency Reuters, both benchmarks saw changes of less than one percent.

Regarding local pricing, April 19 expiry crude oil futures finished 0.04 percent higher at $6,749 per barrel on the multicommodity exchange (MCX) after reaching an intraday high of $6,803 per barrel.

What’s driving the crude oil prices?

Blinken spoke with the foreign ministers of the Arab world and President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi of Egypt in Cairo as negotiations in Qatar focused on a six-week truce.

As a result of the unexpected interest rate decrease by the Swiss National Bank on Thursday, which improved attitude toward global risk, the US dollar appeared poised for a second week of broad gains.

Although a hypothetical ceasefire would allow crude to travel more freely internationally, prices were supported by a decline in the number of US oil rigs and the possibility of a reduction in US interest rates. According to Baker Hughes statistics, the number of oil rigs in the US decreased by one this week to 509, suggesting a reduction in future production.

On Friday, Russia launched what was the biggest missile and drone attack on Ukrainian energy infrastructure throughout the conflict, damaging the nation’s largest dam and resulting in outages across multiple districts.