Citi: Oil Prices Remain Unstable Despite Recovering Gulf Exports

Citi said on Thursday that near-term risks to oil prices remain skewed to the upside despite a recovery in Gulf crude exports, as shipping bottlenecks continue to keep delivered supplies tight.

"The normalization of Arab Gulf oil exports has been volumetric rather than logistical, with unprecedented shipping inefficiencies keeping delivered crude costs elevated," Citi said

More than 1 million barrels per day of Gulf crude exports were moved via ship-to-ship transfers in September, equivalent to about 7.5% of regional flows, compared with virtually none before the US-Iran conflict. Citi said the rise underscored the increasingly complex logistics behind the recovery in exports

Gulf oil flows excluding Iran rose to more than 81% of pre-war levels in September, data showed, led by a recovery in Saudi exports despite attacks on the kingdom's oil infrastructure and escalating Iranian attacks on regional shipping. Iranian exports, meanwhile, fell to zero because of a US blockade

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