Key Points
- Brent settles at $95.2 per barrel, down about 12.7% over the week
- WTI closes at $96.6, registering a roughly 13.4% weekly decline
- European gas benchmark TTF falls over 12% week-on-week
- Pakistan-mediated ceasefire between US and Iran shifts market sentiment
- Islamabad hosts talks aimed at longer-term stability
ISLAMABAD: Global energy prices declined sharply over the past week, with oil and gas benchmarks posting double-digit losses as easing tensions in the Middle East, following a Pakistan-mediated ceasefire between the United States and Iran, reduced fears of supply disruptions.
Brent crude futures settled at $95.2 per barrel at the end of the trading week, marking a decline of about 12.7 per cent compared to the previous close, according to market data reported by Reuters. US West Texas Intermediate crude closed at $96.6 per barrel, down roughly 13.4 per cent over the same period.
European natural gas prices also moved lower, with the Dutch TTF benchmark falling more than 12 per cent week-on-week to around €43–44 per megawatt-hour, equivalent to roughly $50–52, reflecting easing supply concerns across the region.
In refined products, heating oil prices dropped significantly during the week, tracking the broader decline in crude benchmarks, amid reduced risk premiums tied to the Middle East.
The market shift followed a diplomatic breakthrough midweek, when Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif succeeded in bringing Iran and the US to a temporary ceasefire, followed by Islamabad Talks, which are underway today, in his last-ditch effort to end the war in the Middle East.
Broader diplomatic peace push also involved Türkiye, China, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. They also helped secure a two-week ceasefire between Washington and Tehran, nearly 40 days after hostilities escalated following US and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.
Under the arrangement, both sides agreed to hold talks in Islamabad aimed at negotiating a longer-term settlement, a development that traders interpreted as lowering immediate risks to key energy transit routes, particularly around the Strait of Hormuz.
Analysts said oil prices had surged in preceding weeks on concerns that the conflict could disrupt supplies from the Gulf, but the ceasefire has prompted a reassessment of those risks, leading to a broad sell-off across energy markets.
Despite the weekly declines, market participants remain cautious, closely tracking diplomatic developments and the outcome of the planned Islamabad talks, which are seen as critical to sustaining the current easing in prices.
