Crude oil futures rise as US-Venezuela tensions fuel supply concerns

At 9.55 am on Monday, February Brent oil futures were at $60.99, up by 0.86 per cent, and February crude oil futures on WTI (West Texas Intermediate) were at $57.02, up by 0.88 per cent. January crude oil futures were trading at Rs 5,149 on Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) during the initial hour of trading on Monday against the previous close of Rs 5,105, up by 0.86 per cent, and February futures were trading at Rs 5,158 against the previous close of Rs 5,119, up by 0.76 per cent.

Quoting unnamed official sources, a Reuters report said that the US Coast Guard is pursuing an oil tanker in international waters near Venezuela.

“The United States Coast Guard is in active pursuit of a sanctioned ‘dark fleet’ vessel that is part of Venezuela’s illegal sanctions evasion. It is flying a false flag and under a judicial seizure order,” the official was cited as saying.

Citing another official, the report said the tanker was under sanctions, but it had not been boarded so far. The report said the officials did not give a specific location for the operation or name the vessel being pursued.

In a post on the social media platform Truth Social last week, US President Donald Trump had designated the Venezuelan regime as a foreign terrorist organisation, and had ordered a total and complete blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers going into and out of Venezuela.

In their Commodities Feed last week, Warren Patterson, Head of Commodities Strategy of ING Think, and Ewa Manthey, Commodities Strategist, said oil Venezuela exported around 6,00,000 barrels a day of oil in November. According to them, a bulk of this oil was shipped to China.

January natural gas futures were trading at Rs 335.70 on MCX during the initial hour of trading on Monday against the previous close of Rs 332, up by 1.11 per cent.  

On the National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), January guargum contracts were trading at Rs 10,646 in the initial hour of trading on Monday against the previous close of Rs 10,237, up by 4 per cent.  January cottonseed oilcake futures were trading at Rs 3,040 on NCDEX in the initial hour of trading on Monday against the previous close of Rs 2,999, up by 1.37 percent.