By Stephanie Kelly
LONDON, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Oil prices steadied on Wednesday after rising on an attack on the headquarters of Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil company and Iranian comments about new tactics deployed to target ships and keep oil prices high to influence US midterm elections.
Brent crude futures were up 13 cents at $105.56 a barrel by 1325 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate crude gained $1.25, or 1.33%, to $95.39 for a more than two-week high.
"Attacks on ships crossing the Strait of Hormuz
and military strikes between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis are supporting prices as market participants remain concerned about lower oil exports from the region," said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo, adding that exports have held up so far.
Iranian officials declined to provide details of the new strategy to target ships, but one said that Iran had started to use different offensive tactics about 10 days ago.
Gulf oil flows excluding Iran surged in September to more than 81% of prewar levels, data showed, led by a recovery in Saudi exports. Iranian exports, meanwhile, fell to zero owing to a US blockade.
"More crude reaching international markets does not necessarily mean more oil is being produced," Saxo Bank analyst Ole Hansen said in a note. "Some of the recovery reflects a redistribution of available barrels, including volumes that would otherwise have supplied regional refineries."
ATTACKS ON MULTIPLE FRONTS
The Iran-allied Houthis attacked an administrative building belonging to state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco in the city of Dhahran, causing a limited fire, Saudi Arabia's energy ministry said on Wednesday.
The group has fired ballistic missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia over the past week in retaliation for the kingdom's support of Yemeni government forces. Riyadh's international airport has been hit four times, with a strike on Saturday killing 13 people.
Meanwhile, a container ship sank in waters south of the Strait of Hormuz after hitting a naval mine and catching fire, Iran's Revolutionary Guards Navy said in a statement shared by state media on Wednesday. This was a day after the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said a container ship and a tanker were hit by unknown projectiles within the strait.
"The expectation that increased Russian diesel exports will ease market tightness is likely to limit sharp price movement in either direction," said Hiroyuki Kikukawa, chief strategist at Nissan Securities Investment.
US President Donald Trump announced last Friday that Russia had agreed to supply diesel to global markets and his administration temporarily lifted US sanctions on Russian fuel that were designed to deprive Moscow of revenue for its war in Ukraine.
Russia's crude oil production increased by 65,000 barrels per day in September to 8.43 million bpd but remained 870,000 bpd down year on year, the International Energy Agency said on Wednesday.
The IEA also said that a lack of operational Russian refinery capacity meant that the recently announced easing of Russian diesel export restrictions was unlikely to bring any material change to the global gasoil market balance.
Constrained diesel supplies could persist well into next year, the IEA also said.
In the wider European market, the European Commission proposed a one-year delay to the EU's methane emissions rules for oil and gas imports after pressure from governments including France and the United States. The rules would have required foreign oil and gas suppliers to the EU to monitor and report emissions of the potent greenhouse gas.
(Reporting by Stephanie Kelly in London, Yuka Obayashi in Tokyo and Emily Chow in Singapore. Editing by David Goodman and Mark Potter)
