Oil gains for third consecutive day on Kurdish supply concerns, ‎banking crisis recedes ‎

Oil prices rose for the third day in early Asian transactions today, Wednesday, as the suspension of some exports from Iraqi Kurdistan raised concern about the scarcity of supply, and market sentiment improved with calming fears of a banking crisis.

According to Reuters, Brent crude futures rose 42 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $79.07 a barrel by 0046 GMT. West Texas Intermediate crude rose 59 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $73.79 a barrel.

Satoru Yoshida, a commodities analyst at Rakuten Securities, said, “Investors’ appetite for risk is still supported by concerns about the scarcity of supplies in the Kurdistan region of Iraq and relief in financial markets worried about the unrest in the banking sector.”

Oil prices surged after Iraq was forced to stop exporting about 450,000 barrels per day from the northern Iraqi Kurdistan region via Turkey, after a ruling in an arbitration case confirmed that Baghdad’s approval was necessary to ship the oil.

First Citizens Bankers’ announcement on Monday that it would take over the deposits and loans of the collapsed Silicon Valley Bank raised feelings of optimism about the situation in the banking sector.

Prices also received support from a withdrawal from US crude oil inventories last week.

Market sources pointed to figures released by the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday, saying that US crude oil inventories fell by about 6.1 million barrels in the week ending March 24. Gasoline stocks declined by about 5.9 million barrels, while distillate stocks rose by about 550 thousand barrels.