Investing.com – Oil prices rose moderately on Monday morning in Asia, with the impact from growing international jitters surrounding Saudi Arabia and the kingdom’s role in the disappearance of a Washington Post columnist in early October seemingly confined to politics.
for November delivery gained 0.13% to $71.87 a barrel at 11:30PM ET (02:30 GMT) on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while for December delivery also edged up 0.3% to $81.02 per barrel on London’s Intercontinental Exchange.
Saudi Arabia is facing increasing political pressure to explain what happened with missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was last seen after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct.2.
According to sources from CNN, the kingdom is preparing a report to admit that his death stemmed from an interrogation gone wrong and that those involved will be held responsible. The report also cited a source on Friday that Turkish authorities own audio and visual evidence that Khashoggi was murdered in the consulate. They entered the consulate on Monday evening for a search.
Although U.S. Donald Trump threatened “severe punishment” last week on Saudi Arabia for the incident, he suggested on Monday after a call with King Salman that “rogue killers” could be behind the disappearance of Khashoggi. On the same day, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo headed to Riyadh.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia announced on Monday that it is committed to meeting India’s rising oil demand and balancing any supply imbalances in the oil market that may be caused by sanctions that the U.S. has imposed on Iran. Those sanctions take effect next month. Iran exported 1.33 million barrels per day (bpd) to countries including India and China in the first two weeks of this month, a Reuters report said.
“For now, concerns around the disappearance of a Saudi Arabian national appear to be limited to the political sphere,” said consultancy Stratas Advisors.
On the supply side, Reuters forecasted that U.S. crude inventories rose for the fourth straight week by around 1.1 million barrels in the week ended Oct. 12. Data from the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the U.S.’ Energy Information Administration (EIA) are set to be released on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.
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Source: Investing.com
