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Brent crude futures gained 21 cents to $83.76 a barrel by 1117
GMT while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures edged up by
21 cents to $78.22.
Risks of widening conflict in the Middle East are burgeoning,
with a drone strike by Iran-backed militants on U.S. troops in
Jordon last weekend.
Commodities trader Trafigura, meanwhile, is assessing the
security risks of further Red Sea voyages after firefighters put
out a blaze on a tanker attacked by Yemen's Houthi group a day
earlier.
"We believe the death of three U.S. service members today in
Jordan marks a critical inflection point in the ongoing conflict
in the Middle East," RBC Capital analyst Helima Croft said,
adding that a more direct confrontation with Iran heightened the
risk of regional energy supply disruptions.
ANZ analysts said: "Disruptions to supply have been limited, but
that changed on Friday after an oil tanker operating on behalf
of Trafigura was hit by a missile off the coast of Yemen."
In China, meanwhile, a Hong Kong court on Monday ordered the
liquidation of property giant China Evergrande Group in a sign
of a deepening crisis in China's real estate sector, knocking
sentiment on crude demand in the world's largest oil importer.
Lingering high interest rates in Europe are also on investors'
radar after the European Central Bank policymakers were unable
to reach a consensus on Monday over when interest rates should
be cut.
Russia, meanwhile, is likely to cut exports of naphtha, a
petrochemical feedstock, by between 127,500 and 136,000 barrels
per day - about a third of its total exports - after fires
disrupted operations at Baltic and Black Sea refineries,
according to traders and LSEG ship-tracking data.
Another Russian oil facility came under attack on Monday, with
Russian authorities indicating they had thwarted a drone attack
on the Slavneft-YANOS refinery in the city of Yaroslavl.
(Reporting by Natalie Grover, Florence Tan and Mohi
NarayanEditing by David Goodman)
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