Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on January 20, 2026
3 min readLast updated: January 20, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleOil prices rose as China's economic data boosted demand optimism, while trade tensions over Greenland and USD weakness influenced markets.
By Nicole Jao
NEW YORK, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Tuesday on the temporary suspension of output at Kazakhstan's oil fields and expectations of firmer global economic growth that could drive fuel demand.
Investors continued to monitor U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff threats against European states that oppose his push to acquire Greenland.
Brent futures gained 90 cents, or 1.41%, to $64.84 a barrel at 1:30 p.m. ET (1830 GMT). The U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude contract for February, which expires on Tuesday, was up $1.02, or 1.72%, at $60.46.
The more actively traded WTI March contract gained 92 cents, or 1.55%, to $60.26.
Kazakh oil producer Tengizchevroil, led by Chevron, said on Monday it had temporarily halted production at the Tengiz and Korolev oilfields after an issue affected power distribution systems.
Tengiz could be halted for another seven to 10 days, cutting crude exports via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, sources told Reuters on Tuesday.
"Tengiz is amongst the largest fields in the world and so the outage is certainly disruptive for crude flows," said Ajay Parmar, director of energy and refining at ICIS. "But this disruption does look to be temporary, and so if the tariffs rhetoric continues, we expect prices to fall back," he said.
The oil market also drew support from better-than-expected fourth-quarter Chinese gross domestic product data released on Monday, said IG market analyst Tony Sycamore.
"This resilience in the world's top oil importer provided a lift to demand sentiment," he said.
China's economy grew by 5% last year and the country's refinery throughput in 2025 climbed 4.1% on a year-over-year basis, data showed on Monday. China's crude oil output also grew 1.5%.
Prices also gained on an upward revision of this year's global economic growth estimate by the International Monetary Fund as well as stronger diesel prices, said PVM analyst Tamas Varga.
A sliding dollar has also supported prices, as a weaker U.S. currency could boost oil demand by making dollar-denominated purchases cheaper.
TRUMP TARIFF THREATS IN FOCUS
Fears of a renewed trade war escalated over the weekend after Trump said he would impose additional 10% levies from February 1 on goods imported from EU members Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands, as well as Britain and Norway, rising to 25% on June 1 if no deal on Greenland was reached.
Trump's tariff threats have a negative bearing on crude prices as the levies could lead to lower global economic growth and therefore reduce oil demand growth, said Parmar of ICIS.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday that the bloc's executive arm is working on a package to support Arctic security and that the tariffs are a mistake.
(Reporting by Nicole Jao in New York, Enes Tunagur in London; Additional reporting by Anushree Mukherjee in Bengaluru and Jeslyn Lerh in Singapore; Editing by Paul Simao, Barbara Lewis, Rod Nickel and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
Brent crude oil is a major trading classification of crude oil originating from the North Sea. It serves as a benchmark for oil prices globally.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) is a grade of crude oil used as a benchmark in oil pricing. It is known for its high quality and low sulfur content.
Crude oil is a natural, unrefined petroleum product composed of hydrocarbon deposits and other organic materials. It is used to produce fuels and other products.
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