Oil continues to rise in price, with the price of Brent exceeding $89 per barrel for the first time since October

Oil prices continue to rise today, with North Sea Brent crude exceeding $89 per barrel for the first time since October. Contributing to the rise in oil prices are concerns about disruptions to the supply of the raw material to the market as a result of the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East and the ongoing Ukrainian attacks on energy infrastructure in Russia.

Brent crude climbed as high as $89.08 a barrel today, according to Bloomberg data, but later lost some of its gains. Shortly after 14:00 SELČ showed an increase of about 1.3 percent and hovered near 88.5 dollars per barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained roughly 1.4 percent at the same time and was slightly below $85 a barrel.

An oil refinery in the Russian city of Nizhnekamsk became the target of a Ukrainian drone attack today. According to Reuters, an analysis of images of the attack shows that the unit used for primary refining, which accounts for roughly half of the plant’s total production capacity, was hit.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi today described Monday’s air attack on the Iranian consulate in the Syrian capital of Damascus as a violation of international law that will not go unanswered. On Monday, Tehran already attributed the incident to Israel, which, as usual, did not comment on the action.

Israel is now at war in the Gaza Strip with the Iranian-backed Palestinian movement Hamas. Analyst Tamas Varga of PVM said direct involvement of Iran could trigger “conflict across the region with possible impact on oil supplies”.

Traders are also awaiting Wednesday’s meeting of the OPEC+ group, made up of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies led by Russia. The group is expected to keep a voluntary output cut of 2.2 million barrels per day in place until the end of June.

Oil prices in dollars per barrel (about 159 liters):