© Archyde.com. Pumps work in the Kern River oil field in California, USA, in a photo from Archyde.com archive.
SINGAPORE (Archyde.com) – Oil prices rose more than 1 percent in early Asian trade on Monday as a major pipeline between Canada and the United States remained closed as Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to cut output in response to Western caps on oil export prices. Russian.
Brent crude futures rose 83 cents, or 1.1 percent, to 76.93 a barrel by 0020 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate crude was at $71.92 a barrel, up 90 cents, or 1.3 percent.
Canada’s TC Energy said Sunday that it has not yet determined the cause of the oil spill from last week’s Keystone pipeline in the United States while also not providing a timeline for when the pipeline will resume operation (TADAWUL:).
The Keystone line, with a production capacity of 622,000 barrels per day, is an important artery for transporting heavy Canadian crude from Alberta to refineries in the US Midwest and Gulf Coast, and for export.
Meanwhile, Putin said on Friday that his country, the world’s largest energy exporter, may reduce its oil production and will refuse to sell oil to any country that imposes a “stupid” price ceiling on Russia agreed upon by the G7 countries.
ANZ Group analysts said in a note that although the uncertainty surrounding EU sanctions on Russian oil and the associated price cap has kept price volatility high, the sanctions have had limited impact on global markets so far.
Last week, WTI and West Texas Intermediate recorded their biggest weekly losses in months and touched the lowest levels since December 2021 due to concerns about the global recession and the impact on oil demand.
(Prepared by Ahmed Sobhi for the Arabic Bulletin)