Following Russian President Vladimir Putin's announcement of a partial military mobilization on Wednesday, which escalated the conflict in Ukraine and stoked worries about a possible reduction in oil and gas supplies, oil prices increased by more than 2%.
Following the outbreak of the Ukraine war, oil skyrocketed and reached a multi-year high in March. On Dec. 5, sanctions imposed by the European Union that forbid the import of Russian crude by ship will go into effect.
With the claim that he was defending Russian territory and that the West sought to destroy the nation, Putin announced that he had signed a decree on a partial mobilization that would begin on Wednesday.
By 07:07 GMT, Brent crude futures were up $2.28, or 2.5%, to $92.90 a barrel after losing $1.38 the day before. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up $2.22 or 2.6% at $86.16 per barrel.
According to Warren Patterson, the head of commodities research at ING, the escalation will result in a greater degree of uncertainty regarding the Russian energy supply. "The move could possibly lead to calls for more aggressive action against Russia in terms of sanctions from the west," he said.
According to Vandana Hari, founder of Vanda Insights in Singapore, "it seems like a knee-jerk reaction to a sliver of news and would be liable to further recalibration in the coming hours."
At this week's UN meeting, the United States stated that it did not anticipate any significant progress toward renewing the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement. General Assembly, decreasing the likelihood of Iranian barrels returning to the international market.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, which includes Russia, together known as OPEC+, are currently falling 3.58 million barrels per day, or around 3.5% of the world's demand, short of their production goals. The shortage draws attention to the market's fundamental supply constraints.
This week, investors were preparing for another ferocious interest rate increase from the United States. Federal Reserve, which they worry would trigger a recession and sharply falling fuel demand.
Later on Wednesday, as part of its effort to control inflation, the Fed is generally anticipated to raise rates by 75 basis points for the third time in a row. As of Tuesday, market sources quoting American Petroleum Institute data said that U.S. oil and fuel stockpiles increased by around 1 million barrels for the week ended September 16.
An extended Reuters poll indicated that U.S. crude oil stockpiles increased last week by 2.2 million barrels in the week to September 16. On Tuesday, the CEO of Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil company Aramco issued a warning that when the world's economy begins to revive, spare oil production capacity may be quickly depleted.
