Investing
Oil steadies as Sverdrup field restart counters geopolitical concerns
Published by Jessica Weisman-Pitts
Posted on November 19, 2024
2 min readLast updated: January 28, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
Published by Jessica Weisman-Pitts
Posted on November 19, 2024
2 min readLast updated: January 28, 2026
By Shariq Khan and Alex Lawler
NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) -Oil prices traded steady on Tuesday as Norway’s Johan Sverdrup oilfield restarted production and there were reports of Iran offering to cap its uranium stockpile, factors that offset investor concerns about escalation of the Russia-Ukraine war.
Brent crude futures fell 0.1%, or 7 cents, to $73.23 per barrel by 1:30 p.m. EST (1830 GMT). U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures gained 0.1%, or 5 cents, to $69.21 per barrel.
Equinor resumed partial production from the Johan Sverdrup field in the North Sea, Western Europe’s largest oilfield, the day after a power outage there factored in lifting oil prices by over 3%.
“I guess the partial restart of the Sverdrup field is the driver of the setback, as well as a slightly stronger U.S. dollar,” said Giovanni Staunovo, analyst at UBS.
The dollar edged up to within striking distance of its one-year high. A strong dollar makes oil more expensive for other currency holders.
Oil prices also came under pressure after confidential reports by the U.N. nuclear watchdog, seen by Reuters, said Iran has offered to stop expanding its stock of uranium enriched to 60% purity, near the roughly 90% of weapons grade.
U.S. crude oil and gasoline stockpiles likely rose last week, even as refineries ran at higher rates, according to an extended Reuters poll of nine analysts. Higher stockpiles are typically an indicator of low demand.
Oil prices drew some support from an ongoing outage at Kazakhstan’s biggest oilfield, Tengiz, which has reduced output by 28% to 30% for repairs which the country’s energy ministry has said will be completed by Saturday.
Rising tensions between Moscow and Washington over Ukraine also supported the oil market.
For the first time, Ukraine used U.S. ATACMS missiles to strike Russian territory on Tuesday, Moscow said. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov described the attack as a Western escalation. Russian President Vladimir Putin lowered the threshold for a possible nuclear strike.
Investors are wary, said Toshitaka Tazawa, an analyst at Fujitomi Securities, “assessing the direction of the Russia-Ukraine war after the weekend’s escalation”.
(Additional reporting by Ahmad Ghaddar in London, Yuka Obayashi in Tokyo and Emily Chow in Singapore; editing by Jason Neely, Louise Heavens, Susan Fenton and David Gregorio)
Brent crude is a major trading classification of crude oil originating from the North Sea. It serves as a benchmark for pricing oil globally and is used to price two-thirds of the world's oil.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) is a grade of crude oil used as a benchmark in oil pricing. It is sourced from the United States and is known for its high quality and low sulfur content.
Oil futures are contracts to buy or sell a specific quantity of oil at a predetermined price on a specified future date. They are used by traders to hedge against price fluctuations in the oil market.
Uranium enrichment is the process of increasing the percentage of the isotope U-235 in uranium. This process is essential for producing nuclear fuel and can also be used in nuclear weapons.
A power outage is a temporary loss of electrical power in a specific area. It can affect homes, businesses, and critical infrastructure, leading to disruptions in services and operations.
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