Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
Oil prices held its ground on Wednesday, October 9, 2019 as Turkey launched an offensive in Syria that could disrupt crude production in the region. The commodity was also steady on hopes of progress in ending the US-China trade war, but a build in U.S. crude inventories limited gains.
As at Wednesday night, the Brent crude was up 5 cents at $58.29 per barrel, and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was at $52.64 per barrel, rising marginally by one cent.
On Wednesday, Turkey launched a military operation against Kurdish fighters in northeast Syria as Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said the offensive was to eliminate a terror corridor along the Turkish border.
Analysts opine that the attacks could impact the economy of the oil-producing Kurdistan region in Iraq and boost oil prices.
Although oil prices dropped gains after President Donald Trump said the assault on Syria was a bad idea not backed by his administration, it soon recovered at the time of this report.
Oil still banks on the world’s top two economies, US and China who will meet in Washington on Thursday in the latest effort to structure a deal aimed at ending a long-running trade dispute that has slowed global growth.
Tensions between the two sides were renewed this week as the United States imposed visa restrictions on Chinese officials and placed 28 Chinese companies on a blacklist.
It is believed that if the trade talk between China and US fails that the price of oil risks suffering a renewed slide because concerns about demand would then resurface.
