Oil settles up, Asia spot LNG prices rise

Doha, Qatar: Oil prices settled higher on Friday as some investors covered short positions ahead of the three day Martin Luther King holiday weekend i...

Doha, Qatar: Oil prices settled higher on Friday as some investors covered short positions ahead of the three-day Martin Luther King holiday weekend in the US and lingering worries about a possible US military strike against Iran.

Brent crude futures settled at $64.13, and US West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) finished at $59.44. For the week, Brent rose 1.2%, while WTI gained 0.5%, noted Al-Attiyah Foundation in its Weekly Energy Market Review.

The US Navy’s aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln was expected to arrive in the Persian Gulf this week after operating in the South China Sea.

Investors are increasingly concerned that any escalation could prompt Iran to attempt to block the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint through which roughly a quarter of global seaborne oil supplies pass.

However, analysts note that expectations of higher global oil supply this year could limit the extent of any geopolitical risk premium in prices.