BEIJING- Oil prices rose in early Asian trading on Monday, adding to last week’s gains as rescuers searched for Iran’s president after a helicopter crash in the oil-producing nation and after the US bought crude to help refill the national stockpile.
Brent rose 26 cents, or 0.3 percent to $84.24 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) gained 15 cents, or 0.2 percent to $80.21 a barrel.
Brent had ended the previous week up about 1 percent , its first weekly gain in three weeks, while WTI rose 2 percent on improved economic indicators from the US and China, the world’s largest oil consumers.
A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi crashed on Sunday, an Iranian official told Reuters. The lives of President Raisi and foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian were at risk, the official said.
Despite the volatility in the region, oil prices moved only slightly.
“The oil market remains largely rangebound and without any fresh catalyst we will likely have to wait for clarity around OPEC+ output policy in order to break out of this range,” said Warren Patterson, head of commodities strategy at ING.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, together called OPEC+, are scheduled to meet on June 1.
“The market also appears increasingly numb to developments on the geopolitical front, likely due to the large amount of spare capacity OPEC is sitting on,” Patterson said. .
