(Bloomberg) -- Oil steadied after a three-day rally, with the threat of a halt in Libyan supply weighing against a still-shaky demand outlook.
Brent crude traded above $81 a barrel after gaining around 7% since Wednesday in the biggest three-day winning streak since April last year, while West Texas Intermediate was near $77. Libya's eastern government declared force majeure — a legal clause allowing a producer to miss shipments — on all oil fields, terminals and facilities as it struggles with its Tripoli-based rival for control of the OPEC member's central bank and oil riches.
Crude has returned to a gain for the year, buoyed by signs that the US Federal Reserve will soon lower interest rates, geopolitical tensions and OPEC+ supply discipline. That has been partly offset by a weak demand outlook, especially in No. 1 importer China.
The threat to exports from Libya followed an exchange of fire between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah over the weekend that rekindled fears that it would affect physical exports from the Middle East. While both parties said that they had concluded military operations for now, the market is still watching for signs of further fallout from the war in Gaza.
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