Both benchmarks gained more than 4 percent last week to touch their highest marks since May, rising for a second straight week after the world’s biggest oil exporters Saudi Arabia and Russia pledged to deepen supply cuts in August.
Saudi Arabia’s cuts are easing its oil glut as floating storage off the Egyptian Red Sea port of Ain Sukhna, is down by almost half to 10.5 million barrels from mid-June, according to data from oil analytics firm Vortexa as of July 7. In the Gulf, Iran’s seizure of a supertanker managed by U.S. major Chevron last week raised concerns about the threat to shipping in the region, including in the Strait of Hormuz.