Oil prices rise as prices score a boost from sanction of...

Oil prices rise as prices score a boost from sanction of Russia’s Roseneft unit

Brent oil aims for 7th straight gain

Oil futures headed higher on Wednesday, with Brent oil aiming for a seventh straight advance, after the U.S. imposed sanctions on an arm of Russian oil giant Rosneft and as the number of new cases of China’s coronavirus reported daily declined.

On Tuesday, The Trump administration blacklisted the trading brokerage owned by Russia’s Rosneft that the U.S. accuses of helping the regime of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Venezuela is already under severe U.S. sanctions as the Trump administration intensifies its campaign to remove Maduro from power.

“The sanctions raised concerns about increased tensions between the United States and Russia and also boosted oil prices slightly,” wrote Raffi Boyadjian, senior investment analyst at XM, in a daily research note.

Investors also were keeping an eye on conflict in Libya, as its United Nations-recognized government withdrew from peace talks in Geneva after an attack by rebel forces led by Khalifa Haftar. Production in the oil-rich region remains impeded due to the Libyan conflict, sources said.

Libya’s National Oil Corporation, or NOC, “reports that Libyan oil production has dropped to 123,500 bpd from pre-current crisis levels of 1.2 million bpd,” wrote Robert Yawger, director of energy at Mizuho Securities USA, in a Wednesday research report.

Combined with signs of slowing transmission of COVID-19—the infectious illness derived from the novel strain of coronavirus that reportedly originated in Wuhan, China—crude-oil markets have been tilting higher.

As of Feb. 18., China’s National Health Commission said there had been a total of 74,185 confirmed cases and 2,004 cumulative deaths, but investors have taking heart in a slowing pace of reported infections.

Against that backdrop, West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery CLH20, +1.54% rose 73 cents, or 1.4%, to $53.02 a barrel on Nymex, after ending Tuesday’s session little-changed. April Brent crude BRNJ20, +1.63%, meanwhile, picked up 80 cents, or 1.4%, to $58.56 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe following a gain of about 0.1% in the previous session.

Brent, the international benchmark grade for oil, was on track for a seventh straight gain.

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