While Venezuelan oil tankers are the target of seizure by the U.S. Coast Guard and more Ukrainian attacks damaged Russian oil tankers, the incidents have raised the risk of global oil supply disruptions. As a result, crude oil prices on Monday rose nearly 3%.
Reuters reported the U.S. Coast Guard tried to intercept an oil tanker on Sunday that U.S. officials said is part of Venezuela’s illegal sanctions evasion, the third such operation this month. The pursuit followed U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement last week of a blockade of oil tankers under sanctions entering and leaving Venezuela.
West Texas Intermediate crude futures finished the day up $1.49 or 2.6% at $58.01 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Global standard Brent crude rose $1.60 or 2.7% and closed at $62.07 a barrel.
Natural gas prices were nearly unchanged, finishing at $3.983 MMBtu after a loss of $0.001 or 0.03%.
Oklahoma energy stocks had an improved trading day with most firms seeing gains at the end of the day.
NGL Energy Partners finished with a more than 4% gain while Empire Petroleum experienced a nearly 5% loss.