Oil edged up slightly on Friday as investors weighed Venezuela supply risks against signals of a ceasefire between Russia-Ukraine.
Benchmark Brent crude futures were up 0.1 percent at $62.29 a barrel, while WTI crude futures were up 0.2 percent at $58.46.
Both contracts were up more than $2 a barrel for the week, marking their biggest weekly gain since October.
The White House has reportedly ordered the U.S. military to focus almost exclusively on enforcing a “quarantine” of Venezuelan oil for at least the next two months.
The U.S. Coast Guard has announced the seizure of the supertanker Bella 1 after several days of pursuit in the Atlantic Ocean, underscoring Washington’s increasingly aggressive enforcement posture toward sanctioned crude movements.
Elsewhere, Ukraine has widened the scope of its attacks on Russian energy assets, targeting not only crude refineries but also pipelines and other facilities.
At the same time, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has given a positive assessment of a conversation he had with U.S. envoys on how to end the drawn-out Russia-Ukraine war.
He has outlined a new 20-point peace plan, agreed by U.S. and Ukrainian envoys in Florida.
The framework allows supplemental bilateral deals between the U.S. and Ukraine that would ensure the security guarantees Kyiv wants to prevent future Russian aggression.
The deals also include a heavy developmental package to rehabilitate the war-torn nation.
Market Analysis
Oil Holds Steady Amid Venezuela Supply Risks
2025-12-26 09:00:32
