Crude oil prices slipped then rebounded slightly on Friday before settling in the upper $90s in the U.S. and more than $112 a barrel across the globe.
Prices changed following a number of major energy decisions announced Friday, including a decision by United Airlines to cancel nearly 5% of its planned flights in the short term because of surging jet fuel prices due to the war against Iran.
The governor of the state of Georgia announced the suspension on Friday of the state’s gas tax because of increasing fuel prices. It puts the state’s 33.3 cent per gallon tax on gas on hold for 60 days.
At the same time, the U.S. gave a 30-day authorization for the delivery and sale of crude oil and petroleum products of Iranian-origin loaded vessels.
Brent rose then slipped back to the $109 level before climbing to$112.20 per barrel. It settled with a gain of $3.54 or 3.26%.
West Texas Intermediate crude finished at $98.32 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange following a gain of $2.18 or 2.27%.
Analysts say policy changes in Washington led to the slip in prices. However, the Strait of Hormuz remains a major contention as no ships have recorded passing through the Strait in the past few days.
Natural gas prices fell on Friday, settling at $3.095 MMBtu with a drop of $0.071 or 2.24%.
Energy stocks in Oklahoma split on Friday with Empire Petroleum leading the gainers with a 5% increase. The biggest drop in shares went to USA Rare Earth which suffered a nearly 9% loss.