Oil prices rose for the first time in four sessions after Hamas announced that Israel assassinated its political bureau chief, Ismail Haniyeh, and a report was published indicating that the US strategic petroleum reserves fell for the fifth consecutive week.
Brent crude for October delivery was trading at around $79 a barrel after falling 4.1% over the past three days, while West Texas Intermediate crude was nearing $76. Hamas said Israel killed Haniyeh in an airstrike in Iran.
Meanwhile, the American Petroleum Institute said crude inventories fell by 4.5 million barrels last week, according to people familiar with the data. If the official figures are confirmed later on Wednesday, that would be the longest decline since January 2022.
Israel also announced earlier that it had killed a senior Hezbollah commander during an air strike on Beirut, in response to an attack in the Golan Heights that killed 12 young men over the weekend.
Crude oil is set to post its biggest monthly decline this year, weighed down by weak demand outlook in China, the world’s largest importer of crude. Futures are still slightly higher this year on supply constraints imposed by the OPEC+ alliance and expectations that the Federal Reserve will start cutting interest rates soon.
The US central bank is widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged when it meets later today, and traders will be looking to comments from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell after that to confirm bets that they will be cut in September.
