(London) Oil prices rose slightly on Monday, driven by new Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy infrastructure, with investors also awaiting key data on inflation in the United States later in the week.
Around 5:30 a.m., the price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea for delivery in July rose 0.27% to $83.01.
Its American equivalent, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI), for delivery in June, gained 0.35% to $78.53.
The two global crude oil benchmarks were still benefiting from several upward factors from last week such as geopolitical tensions in Russia and Ukraine.
“Chinese export/import figures, unexpected decline in crude oil inventories […] in the United States and new Ukrainian assaults on Russian refineries (have) raised the specter of growing demand and reduced supply,” comments Tamas Varga, analyst at PVM Energy.
Ukraine claimed Monday that it had struck an oil terminal and an electricity substation respectively in the Belgorod and Lipetsk regions of western Russia, not far from the Ukrainian border.
A new Ukrainian drone attack also caused a fire at the Volgograd refinery in southern Russia during the night from Saturday to Sunday, lamented the governor of the eponymous region, Andreï Botcharov.
On Thursday, Ukraine claimed responsibility for a strike against a Russian refinery in the Bashkortostan region, a record distance of 1,200 kilometers from its border.
Ukraine, which has been fighting the Russian assault for more than two years, has intensified its strikes on Russian military and energy sites since the start of the year, sometimes very far from its border. Kyiv says it is acting in response to strikes by the Russian army against civilian sites, starting with its energy infrastructure.
At the same time, Israeli strikes increased early Monday in the Gaza Strip, targeting in particular the town of Rafah (south), populated alone by 1.4 million Palestinians, the majority displaced by bombings and fighting.
“The sudden and disappointing breakdown of truce talks between Israel and Hamas added fuel to the fire and signaled the reluctance of the Israeli prime minister to end the war in the near future,” underlines Tamas Varga.
Oil’s gains, however, remain tempered by statements from the president of the Dallas branch of the American Federal Reserve (Fed), Lorie Logan, warning that it was too early to consider rate cuts.
However, “higher interest rates generally slow down economic activity, which could weaken demand for oil,” explains John Plassard of Mirabaud.
“The inflation data expected this week will undoubtedly serve as an indicator of possible action by the Fed,” said Mr. Varga.