(RTTNews) – Crude oil rose on Friday amid concerns of supply-side disruption due to US-Venezuela tensions and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict as US efforts to end the war have so far been unproductive.
WTI crude oil for January delivery was last seen trading at $56.62 a barrel, up $0.47 (or 0.84%).
The European Union has agreed to provide Ukraine with an interest-free loan of $106 billion (90 billion euros) to support the war-ravaged nation, following an earlier proposal to use frozen Russian assets in Europe to aid Ukraine, which is facing legal and political obstacles in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Efforts by the US government to end the Russia-Ukraine war have so far yielded no concrete results despite several meetings of US representatives with Russian and Ukrainian counterparts.
However, US President Donald Trump said today that talks were “getting closer to something”, pointing towards a breakthrough.
Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for not engaging in substantive discussions on territorial concessions and accused Western leaders of betraying Russia by ignoring Russian security interests. With the support of many European countries, Zelensky has refused to cede any territory to Russia.
Analysts expect the oil market to be oversupplied in 2026 if US efforts to end the Ukraine conflict are successful and Russian sanctions are lifted.
Tension between the US and Venezuela has increased rapidly in South America.
In an interview with NBC today, after announcing a complete “naval blockade” on US-sanctioned tankers traveling to and from Venezuela, Trump acknowledged that he has not ruled out the possibility of war with Venezuela. The US already has a heavy naval presence in the Caribbean region.
Concerns are growing that a prolonged blockade could force Venezuela to shut down production, as they would have no destination to export their oil.
In response to all US actions, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro accused the US of being a “warmonger” nation attempting to steal Venezuela’s oil and mineral wealth.
OPEC+ confirmed it would freeze output for the first quarter of 2026 after December’s 137,000 barrel per day increase. The cartel has already made voluntary cuts of 2.2 million barrels per day and is restoring cuts of 1.65 million barrels per day.
According to the latest data from the US Energy Information Administration, for the week ended December 12, US crude oil inventories decreased by 1.3 million barrels to 424.4 million barrels.
Separately, according to Kpler, 1.3 billion barrels of crude oil are floating in the ocean (oil on water) indicating that oil tankers are wandering around trying to find home.
The supply glut has weighed on oil prices recently.
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