Oil prices continued their rise on Wednesday as investors focused on concerns about crude oil and fuel supplies following Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries and the potential for Iranian involvement in the Israel-Hamas war.
June Brent crude futures rose 17 cents, or 0.19%, to $89.09 a barrel at 06:50 GMT, while May West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures rose 7 cents, or 0.08%, to $89.09 a barrel. It rose to $85.22.
Brent and WTI rose 1.7% in the previous session, reaching their highest level since October.
Geopolitical tensions continue to create uncertainty about potential supply disruptions, with oil prices continuing their rise to a five-month high and remaining on an upward trend.
Russia is among the world’s three largest oil producers and one of the largest exporters of petroleum products. Prices rose after another Ukrainian drone attack on a Russian refinery threatened to knock out even more of the country’s oil processing capacity, restricting gasoline and diesel fuel production.
There are also concerns that Iran’s retaliation against Israel for the attack that killed its senior military personnel on Monday could potentially lead to supply disruptions in the key Middle East-producing region. Iran, which provides support to the Hamas militia fighting against Israel in Gaza, is the third largest producer of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Adding to supply concerns, Mexico’s state-owned energy company Pemex has asked its trading body to cancel up to 436,000 barrels per day of crude exports this month as it prepares to process domestic oil at its new Dos Bocas refinery, according to one briefing.
After it was reported that crude oil stocks fell by 2.3 million barrels last week, according to data from the American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday, oil stocks in the United States, the world’s largest oil user, also appear to have decreased.
This is higher than analysts’ forecast for a decline of 1.5 million barrels.
US government inventory data (EIA data) will be released at 14:30 GMT on Wednesday.
A ministerial panel comprising OPEC and its allies including Russia, known as OPEC+, is unlikely to recommend any oil production policy changes at Wednesday’s meeting, sources said.
