OPEC+ Slight Production Increase... Oil Prices Surpass $110, Highest Since 2011

[Asia Economy New York=Special Correspondent Joselgina] As Russia's invasion of Ukraine intensifies, major oil-producing countries have decided on a 'slight' increase in production, pushing international oil prices above $110 per barrel on the 2nd (local time). This is the highest level since 2011.

On this day, April delivery West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) closed at $110.60 per barrel, up 7% ($7.19) from the previous day. The closing price is the highest level in about 11 years since May 2011. During the session, WTI even reached $112.51 per barrel.

Brent crude on the London ICE Futures Exchange also surpassed $113 per barrel, trading about 8% higher than the previous session. This is the highest level since June 2014.

International oil prices have remained above $100 per barrel since Russia invaded Ukraine, maintaining a high level. On this day, Russia deployed large-scale troops to major Ukrainian cities and launched attacks, which is evaluated to have put upward pressure on oil prices.

In the market, concerns are spreading that commodity trading itself may become difficult as Western countries, including the United States, increase sanctions against Russia. The U.S. announced additional sanctions targeting Russian oil companies on this day. There are also speculations that this could lead to export sanctions on Russian crude oil and gas in the future. Russia is the world's third-largest oil producer.

On this day, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the Russia-led coalition 'OPEC Plus' (OPEC+) decided to increase oil production in April by only 400,000 barrels per day compared to March. Despite concerns about supply shortages, the scale of production increase was minimal. Stacy Morris, director at Alarian, told MarketWatch, "OPEC+ maintained its policy even when oil prices fell in early December," and evaluated that "maintaining cooperation is their top priority."

Although member countries of the International Energy Agency (IEA) agreed to release 60 million barrels of emergency reserves to curb the rapid rise in oil prices the day before, this also had little impact on the market. The 60 million barrels correspond to about 12 days of Russia's export volume.

U.S. crude oil inventories announced on this day decreased. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), crude oil inventories for the week ending on the 25th of last month were 413.425 million barrels, down 2.597 million barrels from the previous week.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.