Oil futures
surged more than 2 percent to a one-month high on Friday after the
United States launched dozens of cruise missiles at an airbase in Syria,
with prices later dropping back as there seemed no immediate threat to
supplies.
U.S President
Donald Trump said he had ordered missile strikes against a Syrian
airfield from which a deadly chemical weapons attack was launched
earlier this week, declaring he acted in America's "national security
interest" against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
After tepid trading before the attack, Brent crude futures LCOc1 jumped to $56.08 per barrel, in what traders called a knee-jerk reaction, before easing to $55.62 per barrel at 0704 GMT, still up 1.3 percent from their last close.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 also climbed by more than 2 percent, to a high of $52.94 a barrel, before receding to $52.46, up 1.45 percent.
Although Syria has limited oil production, its location in the Middle East and alliances with big oil producers raised worries about spreading conflict that could disrupt crude shipments.
The strikes also rattled global markets. While safe-haven products like gold jumped XAU=, stock markets and the U.S. dollar .DXY slumped.
In oil supply fundamentals, markets remained oversupplied, even with efforts led by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to cut supplies to prop up prices.
Oil trading data in Thomson Reuters Eikon shows that globally shipped crude volumes stood at 1.4 billion barrels in March (around 45.6 million bpd), up from 1.1 billion barrels in February, although on a daily basis the figure was similar to February's 45.5 million bpd due to that month's fewer days.
Shipped oil flows also remain higher than at any time during the second half of 2016, before the OPEC-led cuts were implemented, implying either poor compliance with the supply reductions, or plentiful alternative supplies.
After tepid trading before the attack, Brent crude futures LCOc1 jumped to $56.08 per barrel, in what traders called a knee-jerk reaction, before easing to $55.62 per barrel at 0704 GMT, still up 1.3 percent from their last close.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 also climbed by more than 2 percent, to a high of $52.94 a barrel, before receding to $52.46, up 1.45 percent.
Although Syria has limited oil production, its location in the Middle East and alliances with big oil producers raised worries about spreading conflict that could disrupt crude shipments.
The strikes also rattled global markets. While safe-haven products like gold jumped XAU=, stock markets and the U.S. dollar .DXY slumped.
In oil supply fundamentals, markets remained oversupplied, even with efforts led by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to cut supplies to prop up prices.
Oil trading data in Thomson Reuters Eikon shows that globally shipped crude volumes stood at 1.4 billion barrels in March (around 45.6 million bpd), up from 1.1 billion barrels in February, although on a daily basis the figure was similar to February's 45.5 million bpd due to that month's fewer days.
Shipped oil flows also remain higher than at any time during the second half of 2016, before the OPEC-led cuts were implemented, implying either poor compliance with the supply reductions, or plentiful alternative supplies.
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