Oil went up for a fourth straight session Thursday, driven by ongoing loading disruptions in Turkey after a devastating earthquake and continued optimism over demand recovery in China, the world’s second-largest oil consumer.
Brent crude edged up 0.12% to $85.19 at 11:28 am GST Thursday, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 0.10% to $78.55% a barrel around the same time. Both benchmarks had been volatile last week and at the beginning of the year. Prices went up following China’s reopening earlier last month.
The 7.8 magnitude earthquake that rocked Turkey on Monday significantly damaged the southeast part of the country and Syria. The Iskenderun region near Ceyhan in the Mediterranean was also hit, causing loading interruptions.
The Ceyhan oil port is a critical hub for exporting crude oil and oil products, and the loading of Azeri crude and a stream of Iraqi crude oil. There had been no mention of any damage to the Ceyhan oil terminal facilities, but operations had been suspended as a precaution. This disrupted crude oil flows from Iraq and Azerbaijan.
On Wednesday, BP Azerbaijan, which operates the Azerbaijani and Georgia sections of the Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, declared force majeure on loadings of Azeri crude from Ceyhan. The BTC terminal is expected to resume either on Wednesday or Thursday, Reuters reported, citing sources.
