Basra spill pushes oil prices up, but weekly decline recorded

Oil prices slightly rose on Friday on news about Iraq’s Basra terminal’s spill. The news indicates crude supply constraint, but overall, prices are still down on the week on fears that interest rate increases will curb global economic growth and accordingly will impact global demand for fuel.

Brent crude futures settled at $90.05 a barrel, up 51 cents, while WTI crude futures settled at $85.03 a barrel, up 1 cent.

Both benchmarks were down by nearly 2% on the week, hurt partly by the US dollar’s strong run, which makes oil more expensive for buyers using other currencies. The dollar index was largely flat on the day but up for its fourth week in five weeks.

In the third quarter so far, both Brent and WTI are down about 20% for the biggest quarterly percentage declines since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Oil exports from Iraq’s Basra oil terminal are being gradually resumed after they were halted last night due to a spillage, which has been contained, Basra Oil Company said.