Oil prices rise after Trump revokes Chevron's Venezuela license
Photo: Bloomberg
Oil prices climbed on Thursday for the first time in three days, as concerns about supply resurfaced following U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement to reverse a license given to Chevron to operate in Venezuela.
Brent crude oil futures rose 24 cents or 0.33% to $72.77 a barrel by 0328 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures were up 18 cents or 0.26% at $68.80 per barrel, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.
A day earlier, the contracts settled at their lowest since December 10 due to a surprise build in U.S. fuel inventories that hinted at weakening demand and hopes for a potential peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. Both benchmarks have lost about 5% so far this month.
Trump on Wednesday said he was reversing a license given to Chevron to operate in Venezuela by his predecessor Joe Biden more than two years ago.
Chevron exports about 240,000 barrels per day of crude from its Venezuela operations, over a quarter of the country's entire oil output. Ending the license means Chevron will no longer be able to export Venezuelan crude.
Last week, Trump said his administration would quickly fill up the SPR. He criticized Biden for tapping the SPR to bring down the price of gasoline.
Market participants remain focused on Trump's Russian-Ukrainian peace talks. Trump said Volodymyr Zelenskiy would visit Washington on Friday to sign an agreement on rare earth minerals, while the Ukrainian leader said the success of the deal would hinge on those talks and continued U.S. aid.
U.S. crude oil stockpiles fell unexpectedly last week as refining activity ticked higher, while gasoline and distillate inventories posted surprising gains, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.
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