Ample supplies have anchored international oil prices near $80 a barrel this year, even as conflict in the Middle East disrupts regional shipping.

Brent fell 30 cents, or 0.36%, to $83.35 a barrel, WTI dropped 28 cents to $78.59 a barrel.

Deputy Prime Minister and OPEC+ envoy Alexander Novak drove home the official line that sanctions make Russia stronger when he said in October, referring to the redirection of exports, "the main consumption of energy resources will in future be in [the Asia-Pacific] region... We would have to do this anyway. We just sped up a bit."

Brent fell 35 cents, or 0.4%, to $81.27 a barrel, WTI declined 35 cents, or 0.5%, to $76.14 a barrel.

The US placed Arctic LNG 2 under direct sanctions in November, in effect blocking its allies from buying the project’s gas when it starts production. The move followed an EU ban on the transfer of LNG-related technology to Russia in April 2022, two months after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

SEFE’s trading of Russian LNG is controversial in Berlin, where lawmakers have urged the company to sever its links with Moscow. Germany opposes LNG imports from Russia, though it hasn’t banned them.

Venezuela and Russia have discussed nuclear energy cooperation in the past, with a civil nuclear cooperation agreement signed in October 2010 providing for the construction of two 1200 MWe reactors and a research reactor to produce radioisotopes.

At the start of the month,we saw #Crudeoil longs data jump 17%, partly offsetting wrong-footed sales the previous week.Russia stated that the cut of 500k b/d to meet the quota expectations for the month of February as part of a package of cuts promised by the OPEC+.

Brent rose 30 cents or 0.36% to $82.64 a barrel, WTI were up 26 cents or 0.34% at $77.30.

Brent ticked down 11 cents to $83.45 a barrel, WTI rose 36 cents to $79.55 a barrel.