Oil prices remained without notable movement on Wednesday, in a sparse market on the eve of the Christmas holiday, with geopolitical risks being offset by fears of a crude overflow.
At the end of a shortened session, the price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea, for delivery in February, fell 0.22% to $62.24.
Its American equivalent, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate, for delivery the same month, lost 0.05% to $58.35.
In recent weeks, the United States has deployed a major military presence in the Caribbean and set up a naval blockade against Venezuela, which it accuses of financing “narcoterrorism”.
An “illegal armed aggression” which violates the rules of international law, according to UN human rights experts.
Two ships suspected of participating in the export of Venezuelan oil under sanctions were seized by the United States, which began pursuing a third.
Washington is carrying out “the greatest extortion known in our history”, the Venezuelan representative to the UN said on Tuesday.
If the South American country only produces a little less than a million barrels per day, this crisis has introduced a geopolitical risk premium into the market.
Elsewhere, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that he had obtained from the United States a revision of its plan to end the war with Russia, which now includes a freeze of the front while leaving aside territorial questions and two key demands from Moscow.
At the same time, however, “new Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy infrastructure” affected “two ships and port installations along the Black Sea, a strategic axis for Russian exports”, underlines John Plassard, of Cité Gestion Private Bank.
Despite this upward factor, “the market continues to factor in the hypothesis of excess supply in the medium term”, which explains the weakness of prices, adds the analyst.
The various production increases from members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) as well as other producers, combined with concerns about the level of demand, suggest a surplus of crude on the market in the coming months.
The price of Brent has therefore lost around 16% since the start of the year, and that of WTI more than 18%.
