Brent Heads for 2.4% Weekly Drop After Falling 16% the Previous Week
Key Facts
Oil prices fell on Friday, November 13, after two days of gains, with Brent still on course for a second consecutive weekly loss, according to a Reuters report published by Investing.com. Brent was at $95.41 a barrel at 02:42 GMT, down one cent, while West Texas Intermediate fell 20 cents, or 0.25%, to $88.52. Later in the session, Brent rose 0.7% to $96.47, according to an Associated Press report. These levels show movement during the session, while the weekly trend remained negative. Reuters estimated that Brent was headed for a 2.4% weekly loss, while WTI was on track to fall 2.5%.
Brent’s projected weekly loss represents a slower decline than the sharp drop it recorded the previous week, when it fell 16%. WTI, meanwhile, was headed for a 2.5% loss after falling 13% the previous week. Friday’s price pressure followed gains over the prior two days, as the market continued to weigh supply disruption risks against concerns about weak demand and a return to a supply glut. Reuters said the continued U.S. blockade of Iran eased fears of a renewed full-scale conflict. President Donald Trump had said on Truth Social that a deal with Iran was not necessary to end the war, which the report said meant the blockade on oil shipments, trade and economic sanctions would continue.
Shipping and infrastructure disruptions remained among the geopolitical risks surrounding the market during the week. The Houthis said they had attacked a pumping station on Saudi Arabia’s East-West oil pipeline, an oil facility in Yanbu and an Aramco building in Riyadh, according to Reuters’ report of the group’s statements on Thursday. The report attributed these claims to the Houthis without saying they had been independently confirmed or had lifted prices. In the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s military said four oil tankers were hit by explosions on Thursday. Reuters could not immediately verify the Iranian account at the time, while tanker attacks remained a risk to shipping through the strait.
Alongside security risks, U.S. inventory data weighed on prices. Commercial U.S. crude stocks rose by 4.7 million barrels to 414.4 million barrels in the week ended November 6, according to the Energy Information Administration, while analysts polled by Reuters had expected a decline of 1.1 million barrels. Even so, inventories remained below their level a year earlier, when they stood at 427.6 million barrels in the week ended November 7, 2025. Stocks had reached 410 million barrels at the end of October, the lowest end-of-month level for October since 2014, according to the EIA. The agency said U.S. crude inventories fell by 14.1 million barrels in October as imports declined and exports rose; the price spread between Brent and WTI also made exports more attractive.
Demand and supply forecasts add fundamental pressure to the market. The International Energy Agency expects global oil demand to fall by 2.7 million barrels per day in 2026, to 102.3 million barrels per day, with an equal year-on-year decline in the fourth quarter. The agency said a return of global supply to levels above demand would put the market back in surplus in the fourth quarter of 2026, with a larger surplus in 2027. The agency also warned that attacks on shipping threaten the continued recovery. These forecasts remain a counterweight to geopolitical risks involving shipping and infrastructure, as both crude benchmarks headed for their second consecutive weekly losses.