The drop in oil prices was halted on Friday after Israel‘s strikes against Hezbollah‘s headquarters in Lebanon, but prices of the commodity still dipped overall for the week.
Oil prices had been steadily dropping. The Financial Times reported earlier this week that Saudi Arabia was considering increasing production of the commodity later this year.
However, the blast in Beirut on Friday, which Israel claimed was a “precise strike on the Central Headquarters of the Hezbollah terror organization — that served as the epicenter of Hezbollah’s terror,” appeared to cause prices for oil to go back up, according to Bloomberg.
West Texas Intermediate saw a nearly 1% increase during Friday’s trading but still netted a 4.1% drop for the week overall. Brent crude improved by more than a percentage point on Friday but still saw a roughly 3% drop for the week overall on the market. The rise in oil prices appears to be influenced by the uncertainty building in the Middle East due to the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.
Israel’s strike on Hezbollah comes as tensions in the Middle East are reaching a pressure point, with the war in Gaza nearing a year and continued strikes being exchanged between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the U.N. General Assembly on Friday, warning Iran he would target the country if they continued to attack Israel via proxies such as Hezbollah.
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Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told the General Assembly on Tuesday that Israel’s attacks against Hezbollah “cannot go unanswered.” It is unclear how or if Iran and Hezbollah will respond to Israel’s latest attack on the terrorist group.
The United States and a group of other nations, such as France, pushed for a temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah’s fighting in Lebanon, but Netanyahu rejected the proposal on Thursday.
