US Blockade Shocks Oil
Oil prices rose in early trading on Monday after the US intercepted a Venezuelan oil tanker over the weekend. This move immediately triggered geopolitical sentiment that typically drives energy prices up.
Brent rose 44 cents, or 0.73%, to $60.91 per barrel at 01:41 GMT. WTI rose 40 cents, or 0.71%, to $56.92 per barrel.
According to officials quoted by Reuters, the US Coast Guard is also pursuing another tanker in international waters near Venezuela. If successful, this would be the second such operation over the weekend and the third in less than two weeks.
IG analyst Tony Sycamore said the price increase was triggered by a series of geopolitical developments: US President Donald Trump announced a "total and complete" blockade of sanctioned Venezuelan oil tankers, followed by reports of Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian "shadow fleet" vessels in the Mediterranean Sea. Sycamore believes the market is beginning to lose hope that US-brokered Russia-Ukraine peace talks will soon produce a lasting agreement.
However, concerns about oversupply still loom over the market. Brent and WTI fell about 1% last week, after both plummeting about 4% in the week ending December 8. US special envoy Steve Witkoff described the three-day meeting in Florida as focused on aligning US-Europe-Ukraine positions and deemed productive, but Russian President Vladimir Putin's top foreign policy aide said the changes to the proposals by Europe and Ukraine did not improve the prospects for peace. (asd)
Source: Newsmaker.id
