Global oil prices rose on January 11 morning, while investors remain concerned about disruptions in oil exports from Kazakhstan, Report informs.
The price of March futures for Brent crude oil rose by 0.43% to $81.22 per barrel, while February futures for WTI oil grew by 0.63%, to $78.73.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the rise in oil prices is related to concerns about interruptions in oil supplies from Kazakhstan.
Mass protests in Kazakhstan began in the first days of the year, when the residents of the cities of Zhanaozen and Aktau in the west of the country opposed a twofold increase in prices for liquefied gas. Later, the protests spread to other cities, including Almaty.
Oil in Kazakhstan is produced mainly in the west of the country, in the Caspian Sea. The oil pipeline system of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) is the largest route for transporting oil from the Caspian region to world markets. The main pipeline with a length of 1,500 kilometers connects the fields of Western Kazakhstan with the Russian coast of the Black Sea.
Also, according to analysts, investors are likely to expect news of the spread of the omicron strain in China.
There are fears that the growing number of infection cases might lead to further restrictions on movement, which will reduce demand from one of the world’s largest oil consumers, experts say.