By Helen Clark
PERTH, July 3 (Reuters) – Oil prices rose slightly on Friday before a long holiday weekend in the U.S. as wary optimism held over efforts to make peace in the Middle East between the United States and Iran.
Brent futures were up 17 cents, or 0.24%, to $72.10 a barrel as of 0155 GMT. West Texas Intermediate was up 14 cents, or 0.20%, to $68.83 a barrel.
U.S. markets will close on Friday ahead of the U.S. Independence Day holiday on Saturday.
During the prior session the two benchmarks hit their lowest levels since before the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran began in late February. Brent for the week was down 0.02% and WTI up 0.12%, the smallest weekly movements for both in months.
“It’s a case of guarded optimism, with the market wanting to believe the peace efforts will hold, but it’s still hedging its bets until it sees real evidence on the water,” said Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade.
Some nations are working to ramp up production with the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, which prior to the beginning of the war carried one-fifth of the world’s daily supply of oil and liquefied natural gas.
Kuwait’s oil production rose sharply to 1.65 million barrels per day in June from 580,000 bpd in May, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday, as the OPEC member boosted exports following the U.S.-Iran interim peace agreement.
Also, at least five supertankers carrying a total of 10 million barrels of Saudi oil have exited the Strait of Hormuz, with Saudi Aramco switching to spot pricing to speed sales in Asia, according to trade sources and shipping data.
(Reporting by Helen Clark; Editing by Tom Hogue)
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