Oil prices rose on Monday, recovering part of last week’s 4% decline, as concerns over potential production disruptions stemming from escalating tensions between the United States and Venezuela outweighed ongoing worries about oversupply and the possible impact of a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine.
اضافة اعلان
Brent crude futures rose by 25 cents, or 0.4%, to $61.37 per barrel at 00:55 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude increased by 23 cents, or 0.4%, to $57.67 per barrel.
Tsuyoshi Ueno, Chief Economist at NLI Research Institute, said: “Peace talks between Russia and Ukraine have oscillated between optimism and caution, while tensions between Venezuela and the United States are escalating, raising concerns about potential supply disruptions.”
He added: “However, in the absence of a clear outlook for markets, concerns about oversupply remain, and unless geopolitical risks escalate sharply, WTI crude prices could fall below $55 early next year.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy offered to abandon his country’s aspiration to join NATO during five hours of talks with U.S. envoys in Berlin on Sunday. Negotiations are set to resume on Monday.
U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said that “significant progress” had been made, without providing further details.
On Friday, the Ukrainian military announced an attack on a major Russian oil refinery in Yaroslavl, northeast of Moscow, with industry sources saying the refinery had halted production.
Russian government oil and gas revenues are expected to fall by nearly half in December compared with last year, reaching 410 billion rubles ($5.12 billion), due to lower crude prices and a stronger ruble, according to Reuters calculations released on Friday.
A potential peace agreement could contribute to increased Russian oil supplies, which are currently subject to Western sanctions.
Meanwhile, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado pledged political change on Friday after secretly leaving the country to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, amid escalating fallout from the Trump administration’s seizure of an oil tanker last week.
According to shipping data, documents, and maritime sources, Venezuelan oil exports dropped sharply following the seizure and the imposition of new sanctions on shipping companies and vessels dealing with Venezuela in Latin America.
On the supply side, U.S. energy companies last week cut the number of active oil and natural gas drilling rigs for the second time in three weeks, according to Baker Hughes, one of the world’s leading energy technology and oilfield services companies.
(Dollar = 80.0455 Russian rubles)
Reuters
