Oil prices settle near 4-week high

Crude oil futures rose on Wednesday to settle at their highest level in almost four weeks, according to Business Recorder. Brent closed at USD 91.62 a barrel, 60 cents or 0.7 percent higher, while US West Texas Intermediate gained 89 cents, or 1.1 percent, to USD 85.83. Both benchmarks ended at their loftiest settlements since July 24.

Traders were unsettled after the United Arab Emirates said it would halt financial and economic dealings with Iran following recent missile attacks, a point emphasised by a BOK Financial trading executive. Washington and Tehran gave conflicting accounts of the Strait of Hormuz, with Iran insisting the waterway was still closed. Kpler figures showed six commodity vessels transited the strait on Tuesday, down from nine the previous day and under a 10-day average of 11.

Inventory and refinery figures offered some counterweight. US crude stockpiles grew 4.4 million barrels, reaching 428.8 million last week, according to the Energy Information Administration, while refinery utilization edged up to 97.2 percent. Russian crude shipments from western ports also fell to around 2.3 million barrels per day in early August, 15 percent under the original loading schedule, due to disruptions at the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk.