The Brent futures (which are a reference for Angolan sales) rose by seven cents to $89.50 per barrel at 5:00 PM (Angola time), and the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) from the United States rose by 19 cents to $86.47 per barrel.
The Government and the opposition in Venezuela resumed long-suspended negotiations yesterday, a move that President Nicolás Maduro believed would benefit the 2024 elections and could potentially lead Washington to ease sanctions, according to several sources cited by Reuters.
Since 2019, the United States has imposed sanctions on Venezuelan oil exports, as Venezuela is a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). These sanctions were imposed to penalize the Venezuelan government after the 2018 elections, which Washington considered a sham.
The U.S. government has been seeking ways to increase the flow of oil to global markets to put pressure on prices, but any significant increase in Venezuelan oil production will take time due to the lack of recent investments.
Both Brent and WTI saw an increase in the past week due to concerns that the conflict in the Middle East could escalate, with the global Brent benchmark rising by 7.5 percent, marking its largest weekly gain since February.
President of the United States, Joe Biden, is visiting Israel today, a country that is preparing to escalate its offensive against Hamas militants, which has led to a humanitarian crisis in Gaza and raised fears of a broader conflict with Iran.
