Around 11:15 a.m., Brent lost 0.46% to $80.64 and WTI fell 0.42% to $78.49.
Oil prices are stable on Tuesday, maintaining the rise of previous sessions linked to sanctions against Russia, with attention now turning to Donald Trump taking office next Monday.
Around 11:15 a.m., the price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea, for delivery in March, lost 0.46% to 80.64 dollars.
Its American equivalent, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate, for delivery in February, fell 0.42% to $78.49.
“The market continues to evaluate the implications of last Friday’s US sanctions and the position of the next US administration in this regard,” explain Helge André Martinsen and Tobias Ingebrigtsen, analysts at DNB Markets.
The US Treasury Department announced sanctions on Friday against more than 180 ships as well as major Russian oil companies Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas, thus respecting “the G7 commitment to reduce Russian energy revenues”. London also sanctioned these two companies.
According to Bjarne Schieldrop, analyst at SEB, the question is “how long Donald Trump will leave the sanctions operational”, when they could constitute a lever for peace negotiations in Ukraine.
The American president-elect takes office at the White House next Monday.
Furthermore, according to a publication by the OIES (Oxford Institute for Energy Studies), “uncertainty in the oil market is high due to factors on both demand and supply” for the year 2025.
The risks of trade wars, a further deterioration in relations between the United States and China and revised expectations about the speed of interest rate cuts are expected to have a negative impact on oil demand, economists Bassam say Fattouh and Andreas Economou of OIES.
However, these effects could be offset by the recovery of China, the world’s largest importer of black gold, and weaker than expected growth in oil production in Brazil, which would instead increase prices.
Moreover, “Brent strengthened well before the new sanctions,” recalls Bjarne Schieldrop, indicating that the current increase is not necessarily temporary.
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