Reuters: oil rises almost 1% after Trump’s cancellation to Chevron license to operate Venezuela

Oil prices rose on Thursday from minimum of two months after the US president, Donald Trump, announced the revocation of a license granted to Chevron to operate in Venezuela, which could restrict crude oil offer.

By Reuters

Brent crude futures rose 19 cents or 0.3% to $ 72.72 a barrel at 0154 GMT. The futures of American crude west Texas intermediate rose 16 cents or 0.2% to $ 68.78 per barrel.

Both reference values ​​were on Wednesday at their lowest level since December 10 due to a surprising accumulation of fuel inventories in the United States that showed a weakening of demand and hope of a possible peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine.

Trump said Wednesday that he was reversing a license granted to Chevron to operate in Venezuela for his predecessor Joe Biden more than two years ago.

Chevron exports about 240,000 barrels per day of crude oil from its operations in Venezuela, more than a quarter of all the country’s oil production. End the license means that Chevron will no longer be able to export Venezuelan crude.

«The news of Venezuela triggered a reversal after the recent sale amid the high -fire conversations between Russia and Ukraine,» said Hiroyuki Kikukawa, president of NS Trading, a unit of Nissan Securities.

«The possible purchases of the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve also supported the market, since the WTI traded near its lowest level in more than two months,» he said.

Last week, Trump said his administration would quickly fill the SPR. He criticized Biden for resorting to the SPR to lower the price of gasoline.

Market participants are still focused on the peace conversations between Russia and Ukraine of Trump. Trump said Volodymyr Zelenskiy would visit Washington on Friday to sign an agreement on rare earth minerals, while the Ukrainian leader said that the success of the agreement would depend on those conversations and on the continuous US help.

American oil reserves unexpectedly fell last week as refining activity increased, while gasoline and distilled inventories recorded surprising profits, as reported by the administration of energy information on Wednesday.

«Since it is a seasonal Valley period, in which the demand moves from chest to gasoline, it is likely that the sale driven by the increase in products inventories has followed its course,» said Kikukawa, of NS Trading.

On the other hand, Goldman Sachs said in a note on Wednesday that the dual objectives of the US domain of raw materials and affordability reinforce the baseline of the Brent range bank of 70-85 dollars, a propitious range for a robust growth of the US offer.