Oil Up As China Condemns U.S. Aggression Against Venezuela

Meanwhile, Ukraine continues to attack Russian oil infrastructure: File Image/Pixabay

Oil trading on Monday resulted in healthy gains for two key benchmarks, following the pursuit of an oil tanker off Venezuela and more damage to Russian oil infrastructure caused by Ukraine.

As of 1634 GMT, Brent rose $1.38 to $61.85 per barrel, and West Texas Intermediate climbed by $1.29 to $57.81 per barrel.

After the U.S. Coast Guard pursued an oil tanker said to be part of Venezuela's sanctions evasion, Giovanni Staunovo, analyst at UBS, noted that market participants were concerned about a disruption to Venezuelan oil exports.

Alex Kimani, a researcher for Safehaven.com, noted that Chevron Corp. was in talks with Washington over its Venezuelan operations, "with chief executive officer Mike Wirth emphasizing that its continued presence there is beneficial to U.S. interests."

The oil giant is the only U.S. company authorized to operate in Venezuela but can only export half of the estimated 240,000 barrels of crude it produces per day.

For its part, China condemned earlier U.S. seizures of Venezuela oil tankers; Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a Monday press briefing, "The U.S. practice of arbitrarily seizing other countries' vessels grossly violates international law," and that China opposes any move that "infringes upon other countries' sovereignty and security, and all acts of unilateralism or bullying."

Most of Venezuela's crude is being shipped on shadow-fleet tankers to China.

As for the Ukraine attack, drones damaged two vessels, two piers and triggered a fire in a village on the Black Sea coast in Russia's Krasnodar region; this occurred after U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff told media the ongoing peace talks between the two countries have been productive.

In other oil news on Monday, Glencore announced that it has acquired a majority stake in Dutch fuel supplier FincoEnergies; industry sources believe Glencore intends to use the acquisition to expand its Northwest European footprint in fuel markets.

FincoEnergies' focus is to provide sustainable fuels and decarbonization services, helping transport companies to meet sustainability goals and transition to a cleaner energy future.