Finance
Oil prices fall as supply outlook offsets disruptions in Venezuelan flows
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on December 15, 2025
3 min readLast updated: January 20, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on December 15, 2025
3 min readLast updated: January 20, 2026
Oil prices fall as U.S.-Venezuelan tensions and supply outlook affect markets. Potential Russia-Ukraine peace deal and global surplus add pressure.
By Robert Harvey and Liz Hampton
DENVER, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Oil prices slid on Monday as investors balanced disruptions linked to escalating U.S.-Venezuelan tensions with oversupply concerns and the impact of a potential Russia-Ukraine peace deal.
Brent crude futures were down 81 cents, or 1.31%, to $60.65 a barrel at 12:30 p.m. ET (1730 GMT), and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was trading at $56.61 a barrel, down 83 cents, or 1.44%.
Both contracts slid more than 4% last week, weighed down by expectations of a global oil surplus in 2026.
Venezuela's oil exports have fallen sharply since the U.S. seized a tanker last week and imposed fresh sanctions on shipping companies and vessels doing business with the Latin American oil producer, according to shipping data, documents and maritime sources.
The market is closely monitoring developments and their impact on oil supply, with Reuters reporting the U.S. plans to intercept more ships carrying oil from Venezuela following the tanker seizure, intensifying pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
"The grind lower in oil prices and the achieving of month-to-date lows across the major futures complex last week might have seen more negative pricing if it were not for the upping of the ante by the United States with regard to Venezuela," said John Evans, an analyst with PVM.
Still, ample oil supplies already en route to China - Venezuela's biggest oil buyer - as well as plentiful global supplies and weaker demand are buffering some of the impact of supply disruptions tied to the tanker seizure.
MARKET REMAINS FOCUSED ON GEOPOLITICS
Progress in U.S. peace talks also pushed the market lower on Monday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy offered to drop his country's aspiration to join the NATO military alliance as he held five hours of talks with U.S. envoys in Berlin on Sunday. A second round of talks concluded on Monday.
"Over the past two days, Ukrainian-U.S. negotiations have been constructive and productive, with real progress achieved," Rustem Umerov, secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, wrote on X after Monday's talks.
A possible peace deal could eventually increase Russian oil supply, which is currently sanctioned by Western countries.
Rising expectations of a surplus also weighed on prices, as did weaker economic data out of China. Factory output there slowed to a 15-month low in November, while retail sales grew at their weakest pace since December 2022.
J.P. Morgan Commodities Research said in a note on Saturday that oil surpluses in 2025 were expected to widen further into 2026 and 2027, as global oil supply was projected to outpace demand, expanding at three times the rate of demand growth through 2026.
"Risk off, with US equities markets trading lower, and weaker than expected Chinese economic data are not helping crude oil," said Giovanni Staunovo, an analyst with UBS.
(Reporting by Robert Harvey in London, Yuka Obayashi in Tokyo, Siyi Liu in Singapore and Liz Hampton in Denver; Editing by Louise Heavens, Mark Potter and Paul Simao)
Demand in economics refers to the quantity of a product or service that consumers are willing and able to purchase at various prices.
A crude oil future is a standardized contract to buy or sell a specific quantity of crude oil at a predetermined price on a specified future date.
Explore more articles in the Finance category
