The oil prices ended stable this Tuesday, amid a worsening of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia and Iran’s commitment to halt the expansion of its enriched uranium stockpile.
In London, the price of a barrel of North Sea Brent for delivery in January, it moved up barely 0.01% at $73.31.
In New York, the price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for December gained 0.33% closing at $69.39.
“There are two opposing forces” in the market, summarized Robert Yawger of Mizuho USA. The first is the escalation of war between Russia and Ukraine, which is putting upward pressure on oil.
On Tuesday, the Russian president, Vladimir Putinsigned a decree that expands the possibilities of using nuclear weapons, just after the United States authorized kyiv to attack Russian soil with its long-range missiles.
Ukraine said Tuesday that it fired long-range missiles supplied by the United States against Russian territory, inaugurating a “new phase of the war,” according to Moscow.
The attack was in the Russian border region of Bryansk, with American ATACMS missiles, a senior Ukrainian official confirmed to AFP on Tuesday following an announcement from Moscow.
“This situation drives up prices” because investors expect “Russian barrels (of crude oil) to disappear from the market,” Yawger explained.
“The damages that Ukraine could inflict on Russian energy facilities in the coming weeks could be considerable,” said PVM analyst Tamas Varga.
But this risk premium was offset by Iran’s announcement about its uranium.
Iran is taking measures to stop the increase in its reserves of highly enriched uranium, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) indicated in a report consulted on Tuesday by AFP.
The UN nuclear agency “verified” last week, at the Natanz and Fordo nuclear facilities, “that Iran had begun preparations aimed at curbing the increase in its stockpile of uranium enriched to 60%,” the report states.
The threshold is close to the 90% necessary to make an atomic bomb. Tehran denies wanting this type of weaponry and assures that its nuclear development is for civilian purposes, such as energy.
Iran It is one of the ten largest oil producers and has the third proven reserves on the planet.
On the other hand, the production of a Norwegian oil field that had been paralyzed on Monday, resumed this Tuesday at two-thirds of its capacity, which released pressure on prices.
