Oil Hits Seven-Year High on Ukraine Tensions

Oil traded at a seven-year high of around $90 a barrel on Thursday as the Ukraine crisis supported prices despite signs that the US Federal Reserve would tighten monetary policy.

Brent crude futures rose six cents, or 0.1 percent, to $90.02 a barrel by 1113 GMT, and West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell two cents to $87.33 a barrel.

Oil prices rose on Wednesday, with Brent crude rising above $90 a barrel for the first time in seven years, amid tensions between Russia and the West. Russia, the world’s second-largest oil producer, is at odds with the West over Ukraine, raising fears of a disruption to crude supplies to Europe.

Market attention is focused on the February 2 meeting of the OPEC + group, which includes the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, along with other producers including Russia.

The group is likely to stick to its plans to increase the target level of oil production in March, according to several sources from OPEC + told Reuters.

OPEC+ has been raising its production target level every month since August by 400,000 bpd, gradually abandoning a record production cut in 2020.

However, the group faced challenges represented in the available production capacity, which prevented some members from increasing production according to their quotas.

But rising crude and gasoline stocks in the United States somewhat eased supply worries.

The US Energy Information Administration said that US crude stocks rose last week by 2.4 million barrels, compared to expectations for a decrease of 728,000 barrels in a Reuters poll of analysts’ opinions.

Gasoline stocks rose by 1.3 million barrels, the largest increase since February 2021.