FX.co ★ CL/Crude Oil

Two days of Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia and attacks on ships exiting the Strait of Hormuz pushed WTI beyond the $95.00-$101.00 range it had been contained in from Monday through Thursday, rising from near $98.50 to just below $103.00, its highest level in 22 weeks. It is currently trading in the upper fifth of today's range. Saudi Aramco (2222.SR) on Thursday ordered its remaining employees to evacuate their Dhahran offices following a Houthi drone attack on the Shaybah oilfield, which had killed two people. On Friday, UK Maritime Trade Operations reported that an unknown object attacked a ship exiting Hormuz near Limah in Oman. The second strike in as many days is impacting shipments exiting the Gulf, and WTI is up on both Thursday and Friday. US Ambassador to the UN Waltz told the Financial Times that the war will go on for another year, and President Trump believes that the US could terminate it immediately. Ambassador Waltz said that the US Navy could keep blocking Iran's ports for the foreseeable future, and Kpler expects this to drop Iran's Crude Oil revenue to zero by mid-December. Either way, Iran's barrels won't enter the market, where Gulf supply is already under pressure. President Trump attends a midterm rally in Fort Myers, Florida, Friday, after declaring that the US has taken all the crude oil it needs from Hormuz. Planning for strikes against Iran by the US and Israel after the November 3rd midterm elections is proceeding apace, ABC News, The Atlantic, and The New York Times write. No decision has been made yet, but the strikes would hit the Gulf region, whose oil supply is already under pressure. The surge pushed prices past the $102.00 peak recorded on September 15, and prices are now near that level. The move from the low below $74.00 on August 6 is now $28, while the 50-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) is above $91.50. Daily momentum is just overbought for the first time since mid-September.