FX.co ★ Oil Slips After Sharp Weekly Rise

Crude oil prices slipped to around $101 per barrel on Monday but held on to most of last week’s 10% rally, as mounting tensions in the Middle East and Eastern Europe kept supply risks elevated. Fighting between Saudi Arabia and Iran-backed Houthi rebels showed little sign of easing, with a Saudi helicopter crashing near the Yemeni border and the Houthis targeting Yanbu, a key oil export hub. Over the weekend, three tankers were damaged in the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran’s IRGC navy insisted the waterway remained closed and that vessels could transit only with its authorization. In Europe, Ukrainian strikes triggered fires at an oil export terminal and a storage facility in St. Petersburg on Sunday, after Kyiv launched more than 1,000 drones at Russia in one of the war’s largest aerial assaults. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump announced he had reached a diesel export agreement with Russia and delayed additional sanctions in order to avoid jeopardizing peace negotiations with Ukraine.