Oil prices fall for third consecutive day — Pajhwok

KABUL (Pajhwok): Oil prices fell for a third consecutive day on Friday as easing concerns over disruptions to Saudi Arabia’s oil supplies outweighed fears over the widening conflict in the Middle East, Reuters reported. Brent crude futures fell 79 cents, or 0.75 percent, to $104 a barrel by 03:19 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 70 cents, or 0.69 percent, to $101.20 a barrel. Both benchmarks declined by about one percent on Thursday. Brent is on track for its first weekly decline in three weeks, down 0.5 percent so far this week, while WTI is set to gain 1.2 percent. Markets have largely shrugged off concerns over fresh threats to oil supplies, despite new strikes between Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Houthis along their border. Earlier this week, oil prices rose close to a four-month high after reports that crude loadings at Saudi Arabia’s Yanbu export hub on the Red Sea had been suspended and Riyadh had cancelled some oil deliveries to Europe. The disruptions followed damage to Saudi Arabia’s East-West oil pipeline in an attack last week. However, Saudi Arabia is seeking to restore about half of the pipeline’s capacity within days. The kingdom has also been offering more crude cargoes to Asian refiners through ship-to