Brent futures for May delivery settled at $82.21 a barrel,
gaining 13 cents. The U.S. crude April contract slipped 8 cents to end at
$77.93 a barrel.
“I guess it’s: the barrel half empty or the barrel half
full, depending on how you look at it,” said Phil Flynn, pointing to
conflicting forces keeping oil prices from moving far in either direction.
Both benchmarks ended last week lower after bearish Chinese
data implied weaker demand in the world’s leading crude importer. Brent closed
down 1.8%, although the contract has remained above $80 a barrel for over a
month. WTI ended 2.5% lower.
China’s crude oil imports rose in the first two months of
the year compared with the same period of 2023, but were weaker than the
preceding months, data showed on Thursday, continuing a trend of reduced
purchases.
At the same time, oil investors seemed to overlook
geopolitical conflict that was initially seen as tightening global crude
supplies.
“It seems that the Middle East conflict is not high on the
list of driving forces of investors, as it has not led to meaningful supply
disruptions,” said Tamas Varga of oil broker PVM.
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis have been attacking ships in
the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November in what they say is a campaign of
solidarity with Palestinians during Israel’s war against Hamas.
Over the weekend, dozens of drones were downed by U.S.,
French and British forces in the Red Sea area after Houthis targeted bulk
carrier Propel Fortune and U.S. destroyers in the region, the U.S. military
said.
On Monday, an explosion in the vicinity of a vessel 71
nautical miles southwest of Yemen’s port of Saleef was reported.
Meanwhile, U.S. data has been sending mixed signals about
the health of the world’s largest economy.
U.S. job growth accelerated in February, but a rise in the
unemployment rate and moderation in wage gains kept the anticipated June
interest rate cut on the table. U.S. inflation data is due on Tuesday.
An increase of U.S. refining activity, which could tighten
global crude supplies, has helped to limit any fall in oil prices.
“The increasing refining utilization rate has the
possibility of popping a storage draw for the first time this year,” Mizuho
bank’s Bob Yawger said.
U.S. crude stockpiles have risen for six weeks in a row due
to low refining rates. Analysts forecast a 1.4 percentage points increase in
refining rates for last week, after they jumped 3.4 percentage points to a
six-week high of 84.9% of total capacity the previous week, according to weekly
government data.
Industry data on U.S. oil stockpiles is due for release on
Tuesday, while government data is expected on Wednesday.