Change in trend, update prices, add context and analyst
London (awp/afp) – Oil prices oscillate on Tuesday, pushed by the worsening situation in Ukraine, but held back by Iran's commitment to stop the expansion of its stock of highly enriched uranium.
Around 3:50 p.m. GMT (4:50 p.m. CET), the price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea, for delivery in January, lost 0.01% to $73.29.
Its American equivalent, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI), for delivery in December, gained 0.01% to $69.17.
“The escalation of tensions in the war between Russia and Ukraine” is fueling the rise in prices, says John Plassard, analyst at Mirabaud.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed on Tuesday, on the thousandth day of his offensive against Ukraine, the decree expanding the possibilities of using nuclear weapons, just after the United States authorized kyiv to strike Russian soil with its long-range missiles.
The Ukrainian army struck the Russian border region of Bryansk with American long-range ATACMS missiles, a senior Ukrainian official confirmed to AFP on Tuesday after an announcement from Moscow to this effect.
“The damage that Ukraine could inflict on Russian energy facilities in the coming weeks could prove considerable,” says Tamas Varga, analyst at PVM.
This risk premium linked to Eastern Europe is offset by Iran's announcement to stop the expansion of its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, according to a report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) consulted Tuesday by AFP.
During the visit of its head Rafael Grossi last week, “the agency verified” at the Natanz and Fordo nuclear sites “that Iran had begun to implement preparations aimed at stopping the increase in its stock of uranium enriched to 60%”, close to the 90% necessary to develop a bomb, writes the UN body.
Iran is among the ten largest producers of crude oil and has the third largest proven reserves.
Furthermore, the day before, prices had risen sharply after the shutdown of operations at a Norwegian oil field operated by Equinor. “Johan Sverdrup represents around 36% of Norway’s total oil production,” specifies Ole Hvalbye, analyst at SEB.
Production resumed by two-thirds on Tuesday morning, which led to a decline in crude prices. But these were then overtaken by geopolitical news.
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