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London - Oil climbed in New York, stemming its biggest weekly loss since March, amid heightened tension after France bombed Syria in response to terrorist attacks in Paris.
West Texas Intermediate futures rose as much as 2% after slumping 8% last week, the biggest loss since March. Warplanes bombed Islamic State’s nerve center in Raqqa after France said Europe’s worst terror attack in a decade was directed from Syria and launched from Belgium.
Syria borders Iraq, OPEC’s biggest producer after Saudi Arabia.
“While the direct link to the oil market is not very strong, this could further destabilize the geopolitical situation in the Middle East and raise concerns about potential supply disruptions,” said Jens Pedersen, an analyst at Danske Bank A/S in Copenhagen.
“On the other hand, the attacks could weigh on consumer and business confidence in the coming months, which would weigh on growth and therefore oil consumption.”
Crude has slid about 46% the past year amid signs the oversupply will persist as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries continues to pump above its collective quota.
Oil stockpiles have expanded to a record of almost 3 billion barrels because of strong production in OPEC and elsewhere, the International Energy Agency said Nov. 13.
Fighter jets
WTI for December delivery climbed as much as 82 cents to $41.56 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $41.45 as of 14:09. The contract lost $1.01 to $40.74 on Friday, the lowest close since August 26.
The volume of all futures traded was about 46% above the 100-day average.
Brent for January settlement rose 47c to $44.94 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The December contract expired Friday after falling 1% to $43.61. The European benchmark crude was at a premium of $2.29 to WTI for January.
Ten French fighter jets struck targets Sunday evening in Syria, hitting a command base, according to the Defense Ministry. Islamic State said the Paris attacks were payback for France’s military involvement in the Middle East.
Syria’s oil output was less than 25 000 barrels a day in May after averaging more than 400 000 barrels a day from 2008 to 2010, according to estimates from the US Energy Information Administration.
In the US, drillers put rigs back to work for the first time since August, data from Baker Hughesshow. Rigs targeting oil rose by 2 to 574 after more than 100 were idled since the start of September, Baker Hughes said on its website November13.
The nation’s crude stockpiles remain more than 100 million barrels above the five-year seasonal average after inventories rose for a seventh week through November 6, according to data from the EIA.
