WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Crude oil increased on Friday amid concerns of a supply side disruption due to brewing U.S.-Venezuela tension and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict as U.S. efforts to end the war have been unproductive thus far.
WTI Crude Oil for January delivery was last seen trading up by $0.47 (or 0.84%) at $56.62 per barrel.
In the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, after an earlier proposal to utilize frozen Russian assets in Europe to aid Ukraine faced legal and political obstacles, the European Union has agreed to offer an interest-free loan of $106 billion (90 billion euros) to Ukraine to support the nation devastated by war.
The efforts taken up by the U.S. government to end the Russia-Ukraine war have not yielded any concrete result so far even after multiple meetings by the U.S. delegates with Russian and Ukrainian counterparts.
However, U.S. President Donald Trump stated today that the talks are 'getting close to something,' hinting at a breakthrough.
Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for not engaging in a substantive discussion on territorial concessions and accused Western leaders of deceiving Russia by neglecting Russian security interests. With the support of several European nations, Zelenskyy has refused to cede any territory to Russia.
Analysts expect an oversupply in the oil market in 2026 if U.S. attempts to end the Ukraine conflict succeeds and Russian sanctions are lifted.
In South America, tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela have escalated sharply.
After declaring a total 'naval blockade' on tankers sanctioned by the U.S. that are heading to and from Venezuela, today in an interview with NBC, Trump acknowledged that he did not rule out a war with Venezuela. The U.S. has already built up a heavy naval presence in the Caribbean.
Concerns are growing as a prolonged blockade could force Venezuela to shutdown production with no destination to export their oil.
In response to all the U.S. actions, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro counter-accused the U.S. of being a 'warmongering' nation that is attempting to steal Venezuela's oil and mineral wealth.
OPEC+ had confirmed that its production pause for the first-quarter 2026 will follow December's 137,000-barrel-per-day increase. The cartel had already unwound 2.2 million barrels per day of voluntary cuts and is restoring another 1.65 million barrels per day.
According to the latest data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, for the week ending December 12, crude oil inventories in the U.S. dropped by 1.3 million barrels to 424.4 million barrels.
Separately, according to Kpler, 1.3 billion barrels of crude oil is held floating at sea (oil on water) indicating that oil tankers are teetering to find a home.
The supply overhang has recently weighed on oil prices.
Copyright(c) 2025 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2025 AFX News