Oil prices fell about 2% on Friday as traders concluded that damage to Saudi Arabia’s export infrastructure would be repaired faster than feared, the Daily Mirror reported, carrying Reuters copy.

Brent crude futures fell $2.30, or 2.2%, to $102.53 a barrel by 0636 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate fell $1.85, or 1.8%, to $100.04. Brent is on course for its first weekly loss in three, down about 2% on the week.

What drove the fall

Prices had climbed close to four-month highs earlier in the week after crude loadings at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea export hub of Yanbu were suspended and Riyadh cancelled some deliveries to Europe, following an attack that damaged its East-West pipeline last week.

They cooled on reports that Saudi Arabia was seeking to return about half the pipeline’s capacity within days, and was offering additional crude cargoes to Asian refiners through ship-to-ship transfers off the Omani port of Sohar.

“Recent efforts to restore Saudi export capacity have reduced some of the immediate supply anxiety,” said Priyanka Sachdeva, head of market insights at Phillip Nova.

Sources have given Reuters varying estimates of how long the pipeline will take to reopen.

The risk premium has not gone

Markets largely shrugged off fresh threats even as Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis exchanged strikes across their border on Thursday, widening the war front. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Navy said a Togo-flagged oil tanker was struck while attempting what it called an “illegal passage” through the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, Iranian state media reported early Friday.

Crude remains above $100 a barrel, with analysts saying the market is waiting for evidence of a clear supply improvement.

“The key question is whether physical flows can normalise and what could be the timeline. If we see a sustained improvement in Hormuz traffic, some of the geopolitical premium can unwind further,” Sachdeva said.

The United States and Iran have held no peace talks since an interim agreement reached in June collapsed within weeks. The war is due to be discussed at the United Nations General Assembly next week, and an Iranian delegation will be able to attend, according to the US State Department.

Why it matters for Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka imports effectively all of its crude and refined fuel, so the level of Brent feeds directly into Ceylon Petroleum Corporation import costs, the monthly pricing formula and the trade deficit. A price holding above $100 keeps pressure on the import bill regardless of Friday’s retreat.

The Hormuz risk premium is also the subject on which Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf taunted the US Federal Reserve this week, arguing that a rate rise cannot reopen a shipping lane and claiming Tehran sets the premium. Friday’s move is the first sign this week that the premium can come down without Tehran conceding anything — it came from Saudi repair work, not from the strait.

Not reported

The report does not say who attacked the East-West pipeline, how much capacity Yanbu normally handles, how many European cargoes were cancelled, or what volumes are moving through the Sohar ship-to-ship route. It gives no estimate of the tanker’s cargo or crew status, and no comment from Saudi Aramco.