Author: Obayashi Yuka
TOKYO (Reuters) – Oil prices rose on Monday, recouping last week’s losses on concerns about a wider conflict in the Middle East following a rocket attack in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, which Israel and the United States blamed on the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
Futures were up 20 cents, or 0.3%, at $81.33 a barrel by 0010 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 9 cents, or 0.1%, to $77.25 a barrel.
Last week, Brent fell 1.8% while WTI fell 3.7% on weak demand from China and hopes of a ceasefire in Gaza.
Israel’s security cabinet on Sunday authorized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to decide “how and when” to respond to Saturday’s rocket attack in the Golan Heights that killed 12 teenagers and children.
Iran-backed Hezbollah denied responsibility for the attack, the worst on Israel or in Israeli-annexed territory since an Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas triggered the war in Gaza. The conflict has spread across multiple fronts and threatens to evolve into a broader regional conflict.
Israeli warplanes struck targets in southern Lebanon on Sunday as Israel vowed retaliation against Hezbollah.
“Concerns about escalating tensions in the Middle East sparked fresh buying, but gains were capped by ongoing concerns about weak demand from China,” said Toshitaka Tazawa, an analyst at Fujitomi Securities.
Hopes for a ceasefire in Gaza have grown over the past few weeks.
But Israel wants to change plans for a Gaza truce and Hamas to release hostages, according to a Western official, a Palestinian and two Egyptian sources, complicating a deal to halt nine months of fighting that has The fighting destroyed the enclave.
On the demand side, data released earlier this month showed that China’s total fuel oil imports fell by 11% in the first half of 2024, raising concerns about the broader demand prospects in China, the world’s largest crude oil importer.
Meanwhile, U.S. energy companies added oil and rig counts last week for the second week in a row, the biggest increase since November 2022, energy services firm Baker Hughes said in a closely watched report on Friday.
