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Oil Prices Spike After U.S. Officials Say Ukraine Invasion Expected Next Week

Published 02/11/2022, 01:24 PM
Updated 02/11/2022, 03:36 PM
© Reuters.

© Reuters.

(Updates with settlement prices)

By Barani Krishnan

Investing.com - Oil prices spiked Friday, with Brent hitting $95 a barrel and U.S. crude almost matching that on White House concerns that Russia will invade Ukraine soon.

Even so, WTI settled below the day's highs and slightly down for the week after the White House walked back some of its own saber-rattling on the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told a White House media briefing that a Russian attack on Ukraine could happen by next week and would likely begin with an air assault. Sullivan, however, added that the White House did not claim that Russian leader Vladimir Putin has made a final decision on the matter.

That caused oil prices to pull back from their earlier highs.

New York-traded West Texas Intermediate settled up $3.22, or 3.6%, at $93.10 a barrel. WTI hit an intraday high of $94.65 earlier. For the week though, WTI was down 37 cents, or 0.3%, registering its first decline after seven straight week of gains.

London-traded Brent, the global benchmark for oil, hit a session high of $95.65 before settling at $94.44, up $2.98, or 3.3%. That put Brent up 1.3% for the week, giving it an eight straight week of gains.

Aside from the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the International Energy Agency also rattled energy markets by warning that global oil supplies might be dangerously short of demand.

The Paris-based IEA in a monthly report on Friday, lifted its forecast for this year’s global oil demand by 800,000 barrels a day to 3.2 million barrels.

What’s more, it estimated there could be a billion barrels shortfall by the end of last year between what the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies — known as OPEC+ — were supposed to have pumped versus actual deliveries to the market since the start of 2021. 

“The oil market is incredibly tight,” Toril Bosoni, head of the IEA’s markets and industry division, said in a Bloomberg television interview on Friday. “Prices continue to surge and are now reaching levels that are uncomfortable for consumers across the world.”

Prior to the Russia-Ukraine brouhaha and the IEA warning, oil prices had lost more than 3% on the week -- first on concerns that Iranian oil supplies could legitimately return to the market through a Tehran-West nuclear deal and later on fears that the Federal Reserve could impose rate hikes of as much as 0.5% a month over several months to curb runaway U.S. inflation.

Latest comments

Always some new rubbish to keep the markets volatile. Covid out, war in.
This is the time to invest in bitcoin
good thing Biden declared war on fossil fuels.
7.5% inflation is only transitory. Powell must wait till inflation reaches 10% or more. Why bust Fed Powell bubble so soon?
The only salvation for Biden and the Democrats is to admit to a stolen election, go quietly into the night and turn over the WH keys to Trump and let him get us out of the quagmire the Biden administration systematically has destroyed American interests and well-being. The alternative is the Democrat Party writes their epitath come November, which is the good news; the bad news is they take innocent, non-Democrat America down before their burial.
Err ... it WASN'T stolen. There is enough evidence to prove that. So let's stay on the subject of oil, shall we? Thank you.
The amount of evidence that it was stolen is staggering. But i don’t want that resolved until we get the energy crisis we were promised. I bought all of my drilling stocks in 2020, great choice. But once Biden stole the whitehouse I knew there would be record high oil prices, and WAR. Democrats love war. Don’t pay attention to what they say, watch what they do.
Captain Seth Keshel. Look him up. He’s a stats guy. If you don’t look at the evidence, but claim it doesn’t exist, I can’t read your articles anymore. He has a mountain on evidence.
The US federal reserve Bank is solely responsible for the Ukraine situation. Putin and his brothers will put oil and gas profits to expand and enlarge too
The US government in general and the Fed in particular are absolute fiasco on matters of managing the mess they create themselves. When they find being caught on the wrong foot, the best they can do is coin a tell tale story heard from so called unnamed sources from Mars(?)
Poor bsstards... Run gossip about war in east Europe, and the ******thing backfires shutting up oil price and us inflation.
And NG doesn't; go figure.
Exactly, Jeremy. I'd say the guys in natty are nifty :)
Biden = garbage
this a global thing. LOCK TRUMP UP. maybe trump can ask his puppetmaster,putin, to stop.
HI BUDDIES traded it 40 minutes BEFORE!!!! press announcement!!!!!.
You aint seen anything yet. $125 oil and 20% interest !
The US is a mess. They want this war to happen to distract the people from the S they have created
 No, Putin and **** Crown Price of Saudi Arabia want $100 oil and beyond. The US, as always, walks into a Russia trap. My instincts tell me no invasion for now, with the whole world watching this intently.
Missing word *** Mur(derer)
lyglmhmdy857@gmalicoo.m
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