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Summary
- US intercepts Venezuelan oil tanker, raising supply disruption fears
- Trump administration’s hardline approach sparked rebound in crude prices
- Crude benchmarks up about 1.8%
LONDON, Dec 22 (Reuters) – Oil prices rose on Monday after the U.S. intercepted an oil tanker in international waters off the coast of Venezuela and tensions in Russia’s war against Ukraine remained high, with both developments raising fears of supply disruption.
Brent crude futures gained $1.11, or 1.84%, to $61.58 a barrel by 1124 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose by $1.04, or 1.84%, to $57.56.
Market participants now see a risk of disruption to Venuezuelan oil exports because of the U.S. embargo, having previously been complacent in that regard, said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo.
Venezuelan crude accounts for about 1% of global supply.
Growing supply from the U.S. and the OPEC+ producer group have largely offset worries over supply disruption elsewhere to keep Brent futures around $65 a barrel in the second half of 2025, though prices have eased in the past month because of oversupply concerns.
Oil prices have been supported by developments off Venezuela, alongside the simmering Russia-Ukraine tensions in the background in an otherwise very bearish market, said June Goh, analyst at Sparta Commodities.
The U.S. Coast Guard is pursuing an oil tanker in international waters near Venezuela in what would be the second such operation over the weekend and the third in less than two weeks if successful, officials told Reuters on Sunday.
A rebound in oil prices has been sparked by U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement of a “total and complete” blockade of sanctioned Venezuelan oil tankers and subsequent developments there, followed by reports of a Ukrainian drone strike on a Russian shadow fleet vessel in the Mediterranean, said IG analyst Tony Sycamore.
The Brent and WTI benchmarks fell by about 1% last week.
U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff said on Sunday that talks between U.S., European and Ukrainian officials in Florida over the past three days in an effort to end Russia’s war in Ukraine had focused on aligning positions. Those meetings and separate talks with Russian negotiators had been productive, he said.
However, the top foreign policy aide of Russian President Vladimir Putin said that changes made by the Europeans and Ukraine to U.S. proposals had not improved prospects for peace.
Reporting by Jeslyn Lerh in Singapore and Sam Li and Lewis Jackson in Beijing Editing by David Goodman
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