North Sea Brent Crude, a type of oil used as a benchmark for prices in European, African and Middle Eastern oil exports, have largely shrugged off tensions in the Middle East and Ukraine. BNO declined 0.5% over the past week, whereas USO has gained 0.2%.
Goldman Sachs economists Michael Cahill and David Mericle argue that it will take more serious conflicts to push up volatility in the energy markets, CNBC reports.
“One reason for the limited reaction recently is that despite its advances in northern and western Iraq, ISIS remains far from the key southern oil fields and export terminals,” the Goldman analysts said in the article. “A second reason is that shale has reduced the vulnerability of oil markets to supply shocks originating in the Middle East.”
United States Oil Fund
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Max Chen contributed to this article.