– Brent, WTI rise 2% and hit one-week high
– OPEC+ agreed to leave oil output levels unchanged for the first quarter of 2026
– CPC, which carries 1% of global oil, halts exports after a major drone attack
– Worries over U.S. strike on Venezuela drive sentiment
Perth/Singapore — Oil prices climbed 2% on Monday after OPEC+ members reaffirmed a plan to hold output steady and as the Caspian Pipeline Consortium halted exports after a major drone attack and U.S.-Venezuela tensions raised concerns about supply.
Brent crude futures advanced $1.22, or 1.96%, to $63.60 a barrel at 0732 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude gained $1.22, or 2.08%, to $59.77. Both contracts hit their highest in more than a week.
Both contracts settled down on Friday for the fourth straight month, their longest losing streak since 2023, as expectations for higher global supply weighed on prices.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies initially agreed on a pause in early November, slowing a push to regain market share with looming fears of a supply glut.
After a meeting on Sunday, OPEC+ said it “reaffirmed the importance of adopting a cautious approach and retaining full flexibility to continue pausing or reverse the additional voluntary production adjustments.”
The move was widely expected by market participants.
LSEG senior analyst Anh Pham said the market this morning reacted positively to the news.
“For some time, the narrative has centred on an oil glut, so OPEC+’s decision to maintain its production target provided some relief and helped stabilise expectations for supply growth in the coming months.”
On Saturday, U.S. President Donald Trump said “the airspace above and surrounding Venezuela” should be considered closed, sparking fresh uncertainty in the oil market, as the South American nation is a major producer.
Trump on Sunday said he had spoken to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro but did not give details. He also did not expand on his airspace comments or say whether they signalled coming military strikes.
“Don’t read anything into it,” Trump said.
In a client note, ING analysts wrote that “supply risks increase following additional Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy infrastructure and an escalation in tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela.”
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The Caspian Pipeline Consortium, which has Russian, Kazakh and U.S. shareholders, on Saturday said it halted operations after a mooring at its Russian terminal on the Black Sea was damaged by a Ukrainian drone.
The consortium handles more than 1% of global oil.
In Europe, increasing uncertainty around a Russia-Ukraine peace deal reversed the bearish sentiment of the past two weeks, when a peace deal looked closer and raised the prospect of large volumes of Russian oil flooding the market.
Ukraine’s military, via social media, on Saturday said it had hit a Russian oil refinery as well as the Beriev military aviation plant in the Rostov region.
*Helen Clark & Siyi Liu; editing: Chris Reese, Christopher Cushing & Thomas Derpinghaus – Reuters
