Oil prices dug their heels in above $33 a barrel here on Friday as fresh trouble brewing in the Middle East revived the slim prospect of a disruption to supplies.Benchmark Brent crude for delivery in January sold for $33.31 a barrel, from $33.28 at the close Thursday.
With the US oil market enjoying an extended holiday for Thanksgiving, trading was likely to be quiet for the rest of the week, analysts said. Prices remained high after new forecasts of below-normal temperatures in parts of the United States, notably the northeast, which could drain fragile stocks, analysts said.
Renewed tensions between Palestinians and Israel also hung over the market, with new deaths on Friday taking the number of people killed to more than 270 in eight weeks. Most of the dead are Palestinian.
The possibility that oil-producing Arab nations might become embroiled in the dispute was still a concern to the market, analysts said.
But Israel said on Friday that it would refrain from immediate strikes against Palestinians, while new diplomatic efforts to restore calm pushed ahead.—AFP.
©--Agence France Presse.
