Oil is heading for the longest run of weekly gains since October 2016 as global supplies tighten and on signs the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will extend output curbs past the end of March. Saudi Arabia on Thursday advised its nationals to leave Lebanon, fueling fears of a confrontation with Iran in a country long known for being a battleground for proxy wars in the Middle East. “Geopolitical risks have taken center stage in the oil market again,” said Jens Naervig Pedersen, senior analyst at Danske Bank A/S in Copenhagen. “The rising tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran have raised concerns in the oil market of an imminent supply disruption.” Saudi Arabia said it plans to cut crude exports to all the regions it ships to next month. Shipments will fall by 120,000 barrels a day in December from November, a spokesman for the Energy Ministry said, without specifying what those levels would be. Bloomberg calculations from vessel-tracking data estimated flows in October at 6.989 million a day. Click Read More below for additional information.

U.S. oil prices rose on Tuesday and gasoline fell as the gradual restart of refineries in the Gulf of Mexico that were shut by Hurricane Harvey raised demand for crude and eased fears of a fuel supply crunch. Gasoline futures RBc1 dropped 4 percent from their last close, to $1.68 per gallon, down from $2.17 on Aug. 31 and back to levels last seen before Harvey hit the U.S. Gulf Coast and its large refining industry. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures Clc1 rose more than 1 percent to $47.84 per barrel by 1008 GMT, up 55 cents from their last settlement. “Gasoline fell as refineries in Texas began to reopen,” said William O‘Loughlin, investment analyst at Rivkin Securities. Texas was edging towards recovery from the devastation of Harvey as shipping channels, oil pipelines and refineries restarted some operations.

While U.S. crude inventories dropped to the lowest since October, gasoline stockpiles last week expanded for the first time since early June, indicating that consumption boosted by the summer driving season may be waning. OPEC’s rate of compliance with production cuts slipped last month to 75 percent, the lowest since the accord started in January, the IEA said. OPEC reported Thursday its output is increasing on more supplies from Libya, which is exempt from the deal. “Concerns about the persisting supply glut resurfaced after petro-nations reported growing oil output,” said Norbert Ruecker, head of commodities research at Julius Baer Group Ltd. in Zurich. “We maintain a neutral view and see oil prices trading sideways as growing shale output and stagnant western-world oil demand undermine the Middle East’s supply deal.” Click Read More below for more of the story.