Oil Rises On OPEC+ Output Plan, Supply Worries

Oil prices rose on Monday after OPEC+ members reaffirmed a plan to hold output steady.

Brent crude futures advanced $1.01, or 1.62%, to $63.39 a barrel at 0501 WAT, while the U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude gained $1, or 1.71%, to $59.55.

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.

Reuters also reported that the Caspian Pipeline Consortium halted exports after a major drone attack and U.S.-Venezuela tensions raised concerns about supply.

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.

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 spoke with 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.”

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.

That’s according to trade and refining sources.

The consortium handles more than 1% of global oil.

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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.