Beleaguered California motorists, tighten your seat belts and brace yourselves. Both U.S. crude and Brent rose more than 3% this week, notching a second consecutive week of gains.
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All of this adds up to potential turmoil in the world and also to potential supply disruptions to crude which have reacted as expected and moved materially higher. A number of California refineries have scaled back production for repairs and maintenance.
Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the US strike as an “act of aggression against a sovereign state” and suspended an accord that had prevented direct confrontation between the nuclear superpowers in Syrian airspace.
Dehaan says it is unclear if the air stirkes will have an immediate impact on gas prices here in the United States, but that they will be keeping an eye on it.
Oil has been steadily rebounding from its 2017 lows in March.
“Especially now you also have talks between the USA and China on North Korea”, he added. METALS, PETCHEMS CAUTIOUS In the base metals market, the LME Select three-month price was at $5,866.50-$5,868/mt at 11:17 am Singapore time Friday, compared with $5,900-$5,900.50/mt Thursday. Spot gold climbed almost 1.5% to around $1,270/oz, the highest since November. And with the increases coming after a relatively benign period of gas pricing for Californians, the coming uptick should feel even worse than it normally might. The news rippled across financial markets, with gold and government bonds advancing as stocks declined.
S&P 500 futures dropped by 0.5 per cent and the yen jumped in value.
Gas prices in California and beyond may also experience an extra bump following the USA airstrike in Syria.
Following US attack on a government-controlled airbase in Syria in retaliation for a chemical weapon attack that killed scores of civilians in a Syria rebel-held town, prices of world oil jumped up by 2 percent.
Gasoline futures rose 1.66 cents, or 0.96%, to $1.7462 a gallon. “US strikes show needed resolve against barbaric chemical attacks”, tweeted Tusk, who represents the 28 European Union member states, adding the bloc would work with the USA to “end brutality” in Syria. Participants in the petrochemicals markets said it was too early to assess the real impact.
The U.S. crude benchmark edged down to $51.93 a barrel early Friday, in a sign that traders, at least for now, don’t expect the conflict to have a marked impact on Middle East oil or spread beyond Syria, which only producers a small amount of oil.
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Now the world is wating to see the reaction from Syria and from its supporters – Russian Federation and Iran – to the United States attack.
