Oil prices have jumped nearly 5%. They are back to the level before Maduro's overthrow

Oil prices rose sharply on Thursday, January 8, after two consecutive days of decline. Futures for Mark Brent rose by 4.7% to $62.7 per barrel. Exchange contracts for North American WTI added the same amount and almost reached $58.7 per barrel.

"The market is recovering and key oil benchmarks have returned to roughly last Friday's closing levels - before the U.S. toppled Maduro," analysts at energy consulting firm Ritterbusch and Associates said in a note, as quoted by Reuters. The fact that such a major event as the capture of the Venezuelan president has only a minor impact on the energy market does not surprise analysts: they estimate that the emergence of significant volumes of Venezuelan oil on the Gulf Coast could take years.

On Friday, January 9, about 20 executives of the largest American oil companies, such as Chevron, Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips, are to meet with US President Donald Trump at the White House, Bloomberg reports . They will talk about the possible revival of production in Venezuela, the agency points out, citing sources. According to them, the participants also include oil traders Vitol Group and Trafigura Group, Spanish Repsol, which owns a stake in a large Venezuelan oil field, refining companies and at least one oil service company. According to some interlocutors, India's Reliance has also received an invitation and said it would consider buying Venezuelan oil if non-U.S. buyers are allowed to buy it.

At the same time, sources told the Financial Times, US oil giants want "serious guarantees" from Washington before they agree to commit capital to Venezuela. Trump said this week that business investment in rebuilding that country's energy sector could be reimbursed by the US government or through revenue generated there. However, management remains cautious and points to the unpredictability of the White House, writes the FT.

Other flashpoints being watched by oil market participants include Iraq's decision to temporarily nationalize operations at West Qurna 2, one of the world's largest oilfields, a stake in which belongs to Russia's Lukoil, which has fallen under U.S. sanctions, and nationwide protests over economic difficulties in Iran. The two countries are among OPEC's key oil producers after Saudi Arabia.

"Iran has a long history of protests and there are no signs that the regime is on the verge of collapse. But depending on how the situation develops, Iran's oil exports - equivalent to 2 percent of global supply - could be at risk," Pavel Molchanov, an investment strategy analyst at Raymond James, told Reuters.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor