Oil prices mixed as rising Mideast tensions offset demand concerns

By Yuka Obayashi

TOKYO (Reuters) – Oil prices were mixed in early Asia trade on Monday as concerns over weak Chinese demand were offset by rising tensions in the Middle East following the rebel overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Brent crude futures fell by 1 cent to $71.11 per barrel by 1117 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose by 1 cent to $67.21 per barrel.

Brent lost more than 2.5% last week, while WTI saw a drop of 1.2% as analysts projected a supply surplus next year on weak demand despite an OPEC+ decision to delay output hikes and extend deep production cuts to the end of 2026.

Saudi Aramco, the world’s biggest crude oil exporter, has reduced its January 2025 prices for Asian buyers to the lowest level since early 2021, it said on Sunday, as weak demand from top importer China weighs on the market.

Meanwhile, Syrian rebels announced on state television on Sunday they have ousted President al-Assad, eliminating a 50-year family dynasty in a lightning offensive that raised fears of a new wave of instability in a Middle East gripped by war.

On the supply side, a rising number of oil and gas rigs deployed in the United States last week, pointing to rising output from the world’s biggest crude producer, also pushed prices lower.

On Thursday, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, a group known as OPEC+, pushed back the start of oil output rises by three months until April and extended the full unwinding of cuts by a year until the end of 2026.

(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)