Crude oil prices extend rally on Kazakh unrest, Libya outages

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On Thursday, both Brent and US WTI (West Texas Intermediate) crude oil futures had gobbled up more than a 2 per cent in gains with both benchmarks stretching out their New Year rallies, largely driven by an exacerbation of a deadly and countrywide mob unrests in Kazakhstan alongside a supply-crunch in Libya.

In factuality, although Kazakh unrests had yet to take a toll on the resource-rich nation’s oil output that usually produces about 1.6 million barrels of oil per day (bpd) or roughly a 1-1/2 per cent of entire global crude oil production, media reports of deadly violence across the peace-loving former Soviet Union state that came as a surprise to many alongside a request from the country’s Government to Kremlin for militias aimed at weathering a countrywide qualm, had stoked uncertainties over a potential lag in the Opec+ member state’s output over coming days.

Russia already had sent paratroopers in Kazakhstan to help allay a surprising unrest in the long-cherished Central Asian nation. Aside from that, Libyan crude oil output had been plagued by a number of oilfield shutdowns alongside maintenance issues, while Libya’s National Oil Corp was quoted saying that the country’s oil output currently has been witnessing a decline to 729,000 bpd compared to an average output of 1.3 million bpd registered last year, eventually corroborating crude oil futures’ prices further.

Crude oil extends rally as Kazakh unrest, Libya output decline weigh

Citing statistics, in the day’s global commodity market wind-down, UK crude futures’ prices gained 1.5 per cent to $81.99 a barrel, while US WTI (West Texas Intermediate) crude oil futures’ prices added 2.1 per cent to $79.46 per barrel after hitting an intra-session high of $80.24 a barrel earlier in the day.

Nevertheless, Crude Oil prices were soaring since the start of the year after OPEC+ nations had agreed to raise output by 400,000 bpd as early as by February, suggesting a sharp downturn in risks of experiencing a supply glut earlier in the year.