Oil prices fell back in early trading on Friday, following a surge in recent days, as the US-Israeli conflict with Iran closes its first week with no clear end in sight.
Brent oil fetched $84.46 per barrel at 04:40 GMT, down 1.1 percent, while US West Texas Intermediate crude was 1.3 percent lower at $79.93, after surging above $81 on Thursday for the first time since July 2024.
Iran struck more energy facilities on Thursday in the Gulf, hitting Bahrain’s state-owned refinery Bapco Energies, as reported by Reuters, and an oil tanker near the Iraqi coast, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre.
Commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which funnels about 20 percent of global seaborne oil and LNG supplies, went from a “sharp slowdown” to a “near-total standstill”, according to Wanying Zhang, a freight analyst at cargo-tracking platform Vortexa.
“While the waterway is not technically closed, a combination of extreme physical danger and a collapsing insurance market has created a ‘financial blockade’ just as effective as a naval one.”
Large tankers transiting through the waterway have gone from an average of nearly 40 a day in January, to “just a few” on March 2, to only one on March 3, according to Vortexa.
The blockage is forcing Gulf oil-producing countries to store more crude domestically, but they are running out of space.
“Kuwait and Iraq have both signalled production cuts as they have limited means of bypassing the strait,” said Sasha Foss, energy analyst at CSC Commodities.
“Meanwhile, the UAE and Saudi Arabia likely have a couple more weeks before needing to cut production.”
US markets closed down on Thursday, with the S&P off 0.56 percent, the Nasdaq 0.26 percent and the Dow Jones 1.6 percent. London’s FTSE 100 index fell 1.45 percent.
UAE stocks fell for a second day, with the benchmark in Dubai down 1.3 percent and Abu Dhabi’s index 2 percent lower.
Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All-Shares rose 0.8 percent, its third straight day of gains.
Spot gold rose 1 percent to $5,124.7 per ounce in early Friday trading. Bullion has fallen almost 3 percent this week, ending a four-week run of gains. US gold futures were down nearly 1 percent at $5,131.
Vijay Valecha, chief investment officer at brokerage Century Financial, counted a war-driven increase in inflation and the value of the dollar as “major headwinds” for the metal.
“Extreme risk-aversion sentiment within investors might also lead to a selloff in the metal amid liquidity needs,” he said. “Hence, gold is not behaving as a safe haven in these volatile times due to these factors.”


