Oil prices continued to rebound on Tuesday, boosted by the extreme tension reigning in Ukraine, after Moscow’s recognition of the independence of the pro-Russian Ukrainian separatist regions. Both the barrel of Brent and that of WTI gained more than 2% in the morning.
KEYSTONE
Around 8:15 a.m., the price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea for delivery in April took off by 2.29% to 97.58 dollars, while that of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in April soared by 2, 88% to $94.65.
The market was driven by fears of supply disruption after Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday evening recognized the independence of two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine. The Kremlin immediately ordered the dispatch of armed forces to the region, under the title of “peacekeeping”.
Questions remain as to whether this operation marks the start of an invasion that the West has been warning about for weeks. Meanwhile, investors continued to watch efforts to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal after a senior European Union official said on Friday that a deal was “very, very close”. Analysts have suggested a potential deal could add more than a million barrels a day of Iranian crude to the market.
In this climate of extreme tension in Eastern Europe, the price of TFT natural gas in the EU rose for its part even more vigorously than oil, ie by 8.87% to 79 euros per megawatt hour.
vj