Oil Prices Increase as Putin Warns of Global Conflict
Oil prices climbed again in the global commodities market as Russian President Vladimir Putin warned of global conflict after US and UK made missiles were fired by Ukraine.
Consequent to the escalating war, Brent crude gained 0.4% to US$74.56 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.4% to US$70.39 on Friday.
Prices are on track to rise around 4% this week as Russia stepped up its Ukraine offensive after the U.K. and the U.S. allowed Kyiv to fire Western-made weapons into Russia.
Putin warned of a global conflict, raising concerns of disruptions to oil supply from one of the world’s largest producers.
On Thursday, Putin declared that the Ukraine conflict is escalating into a global confrontation, accusing the West of provoking the situation by supplying Kyiv with advanced weapons.
In a televised address, Putin warned of decisive retaliation and revealed Russia had tested a new medium-range hypersonic missile in response to recent Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory.
Putin said Ukraine used US-made ATACMS and British Storm Shadow missiles in attacks on Russian targets, including a command centre in Kursk, which resulted in casualties.
While he asserted that such strikes cannot alter the war’s trajectory, he emphasised that Russia reserves the right to retaliate against nations enabling attacks on its facilities.
Russia’s hypersonic missile, nicknamed “Oreshnik” (the hazel), was tested on a defence facility in Dnipro. Putin claimed the strike successfully targeted Ukraine’s missile production enterprise, sending a message to Western allies.
The escalation follows the US’s approval for Ukraine to use long-range missiles to hit Russian targets. Putin criticized this move, accusing the US of pushing the world toward global conflict.
US commercial crude oil inventories increased by 0.1% during the week ending Nov. 15, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) late Wednesday.
Inventories rose by around 500,000 barrels to 430.3 million barrels, higher than the market prediction of 400,000 barrels.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are excluded from commercial crude stocks, increased by approximately 1.4 million barrels to 389.2 million barrels last week, the data revealed.
Over the same period, gasoline inventories rose by around 2.1 million barrels to 208.9 million barrels. EIA data showed that US crude oil production decreased by 190,000 barrels per day (bpd) to about 13.64 million bpd during the week ending Nov. 15.
US crude oil imports increased by 1.17 million bpd to approximately 7.68 million bpd, while exports rose by 938,000 bpd to around 4.38 million bpd over the same period.
In the Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) released on Nov. 13, the EIA predicted that crude oil output in the country would reach an average of 13.23 million bpd this year. Next year, crude oil output in the country is expected to reach 13.53 million bpd. NGX Shrinks by N108bn as Investors Dump OANDO, ACCESS
