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EMEA Oil Update: Crude Drifts Lower Friday; Snaps 2-Week Losing Streak

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Oil prices eased on Friday, but remained on track for a net weekly gain, snapping a two-week losing streak.

Front-month Murban crude futures fell 1.2% to $92.38 per barrel, while Brent futures were down 0.7% to $94.38/bbl.

While a tentative, US-mediated Israel-Lebanon ceasefire initially cooled front-month risk premiums, structural de-escalation between Washington and Tehran has stalled.

However, Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri officially rejected the US-mediated deal, according to an Al Jazeera report citing the state-run National News Agency on Friday.

"Trump is reportedly reluctant to resume full-scale war with Iran and would end the truce only if Tehran kills US troops. US-Iran talks show little progress, hindered by Israel's operations in Lebanon," Saxo Bank analysts said.

Meanwhile broader US-Iran backchannel talks are showing negligible progress, heavily complicated by ongoing regional military friction.

Underpinning the physical market is a severely disrupted supply matrix countered by surprisingly resilient demand parameters.

The Strait of Hormuz, the world's most critical maritime oil transit chokepoint, remains effectively closed to normalized commercial shipping, keeping a structural risk premium firmly embedded across global prompt-month balances.

However, this supply-side shock has not broken the long-term consumption outlook.

Speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais confirmed that the organization is strictly maintaining its global oil demand growth forecast at 1.2 million barrels per day for the year.

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