Oct 23 (Reuters) – Oil prices were little changed in early Asian trade on Friday, after rising 4% to a five-month high in the previous session due to concern of further energy supply disruption after Houthi attacks on top exporter Saudi Arabia.
Brent crude futures was down 21 cents, or 0.2%, at $112.96 a barrel as of 0030 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude was down 27 cents, or 0.3%, at $98.12.
On a weekly basis, WTI was on track to end two weeks of gain to finish lower. Brent, which settled at its highest since May 4 on Thursday, is set to close higher for the third successive week.
Saudi Aramco on Thursday ordered the evacuation of its headquarters in Dhahran on the Gulf near Bahrain, Reuters reported, as fighting intensified between the world’s largest crude exporter and Yemen-based Houthis.
Clashes between the Houthis and a Saudi-led coalition that backs Yemen’s internationally recognised government have raged since the Iran-aligned Houthis pushed towards Bab el-Mandeb, a shipping chokepoint at the mouth of the Red Sea.
In Libya, an oil pipeline valve from the Hamada and Tahara oilfields to Zawiya port has been shut, leading to a reduction in production at both fields, the head of the National Oil Corporation told Reuters on Thursday.
Separately, Russia said on Wednesday it was ready to resume US-mediated talks with Ukraine next month, after President Vladimir Putin hosted US envoy Steve Witkoff for talks in St Petersburg.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he hoped negotiations, which would be the first since February, will take place early in November.
Russia was the world’s third-biggest crude oil producer behind the US and Saudi Arabia in 2025, US energy data showed. Sanctions aimed at keeping Russian energy out of global markets after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 have pushed up oil prices.
(Reporting by Sudarshan Varadhan; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
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