Oil increased to its highest level this month as capitalists weighed supply distortions in Venezuela and Libya that prompted Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro to declare an "energy emergency."
The president has also announced the creation of task force that will oversee a revamp in the state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA, ramping up efforts to shore up the country's sinking oil market.
Futures rallied 2.5 percent in New York Thursday as the country's capacity to export crude is in peril after the US sanctioned a division of Rosneft PJSC, Venezuela's premier oil exporter.
Meanwhile, Libya's ceasefire talks were put on hold after the capital city's port was attacked by militant forces loyal to commander Khalifa Haftar, who has imposed a barricade of the country's oil exports.
Maduro is expected to install a new management team at the government-run oil producer PDVSA, as he voiced optimism to end the decline of the country's oil business, Kallanish Energy reported.
Minister of Industries and National Production Tareck El Aissami is also expected to be chosen to lead a new board of directors for PDVSA, which will concentrate on bolstering oil output, sources told Bloomberg.
El Aissami, who is currently an external chief at PDVSA, will be joined by former energy official Asdrubal Chavez as commission vice president, minister of defense Vladimir Padrino, armed forces operations commander Remigio Ceballos and others.
In the midst of global geopolitical frictions, prices shrugged off a market report that showed a rise in US crude inventory last week.
The American Petroleum Institute (API) disclosed that stockpiles surged 4.17 million barrels, people with knowledge of the matter, said. Distillate supplies were down 2.64 million barrels while gasoline supplies fell 2.68 million barrels, API revealed.
Analysts say placing a staunch Maduro loyalist at the top of the government oil firm shows rising urgency to jack up production of Venezuela's main source of income. Oil comprises 95 percent of the country's exports and a quarter of its gross domestic product.
Maduro bluntly said that he will not accept any more excuses, during an event with PDVSA personnel beamed live on state television. "Either we produce or we produce," Maduro announced, adding that his country "has to be an oil power."
The US Energy Information Administration will release its weekly oil report on Friday, a day after its usual release date due to the President's Day holiday set for Monday. The crude inventory increase would be the fourth straight build, and the longest streak since November, if government figures validate it.
