Oil price fire puts fear of escalation of war in Ukraine

Beyond gas prices, the deterioration of the front in , raises its prices . Specifically, fear of escalation of the war in Ukraine leads oil prices to higher levels. The slow Brent of the North Sea and the American slow WTI increased by about 1.2% each to US$73.67 and US$69.62 per barrel (159 litres) respectively. During the week to date, each has increased by more than three percent. “With oil, the risk is that Ukraine will attack Russia’s energy infrastructure, while the other risk is uncertainty about how Russia will react to these attacks,” ING Bank analysts explained. According to experts, however, price increases could be slowed by speculation about oversupply in world markets. According to the latest official announcements, weekly American crude oil reserves increased by 545,000 barrels to 430.3 million barrels. Analysts expected only a 138,000 barrel increase.