Oil prices rose on Friday, with an uprising in Kazakhstan, which raised concerns about the possibility of disruption to OPEC + supplies, coinciding with the decline in production in Libya.
Brent crude futures rose 48 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $82.47 a barrel by 01:27 GMT, after a 1.5 percent jump in the previous session.
US West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 50 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $ 79.96 a barrel, after rising 2.1 percent in the previous session.
“The jump in oil prices mainly reflects market fears, with the growing turmoil in Kazakhstan and the continued deterioration of the political situation in Libya,” affecting oil production, Rystad Energy analyst Louise Dixon said in an email comment.
After days of turmoil in Kazakhstan during which the government declared a state of emergency, Russia on Thursday sent paratroopers to quell the uprising. The protests began in the oil-rich western regions of Kazakhstan after fuel prices were raised at the start of the new year.
Brent and US crude are heading for a 6% increase in the first week of the year, as prices reached their highest levels since late November, as concerns about supplies outweighed concerns about the possibility of demand being affected by the rapid spread of the mutant Omicron from the Corona virus.
Increases in supply from the OPEC+ group, which includes the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Russia and allies, have not kept pace with demand growth.
OPEC production in December rose by 70,000 barrels per day from the previous month, much less than the increase allowed under the OPEC + agreement of 253,000 barrels per day, which restored production cut in 2020 when demand collapsed under the Covid-19 closures. .
Libya’s production fell to 729,000 barrels per day, from a high production of 1.3 million barrels per day last year, partly due to pipeline maintenance work. (Archyde.com)