Name: Oil tracking for third straight positive week amid volatile trading
Uploaded: 2026-01-09T17:52:42.929Z
Duration: 3 min 19 s
Description: From developments in Venezuela to supply disruption concerns, it has been a volatile week for crude prices with both WTI and Brent on track for their third straight positive week for the first time since June.

From developments in Venezuela to supply disruption concerns, it has been a volatile week for crude prices with both WTI and Brent on track for their third straight positive week for the first time since June.

Oil prices are on track for a third straight week of gains, with both WTI and Brent benchmarks rising amid ongoing volatility. The market is reacting to uncertainty over Venezuela's crude exports, disruptions involving Russia and China, and the potential for new U.S. sanctions targeting countries that buy Russian oil.

U.S. oil companies are benefiting from optimism about access to Venezuelan reserves, while European oil majors are experiencing losses. The Trump administration is reportedly seeking to lower oil prices and is meeting with energy executives to discuss rebuilding Venezuela's oil infrastructure. Meanwhile, proposed bipartisan sanctions could further restrict Russian oil sales, adding to market volatility.

Oil tracking for third straight positive week amid volatile trading

What an extraordinary week, and there are so many facets going into the oil price. I think it's worth us just spending a little bit of time just working out what happened. So oil prices moving higher this morning, building on strong gains in yesterday's session amid uncertainty around the future of Venezuela's crude exports and supply concerns, disruptions around Russia and China. It's actually about something else as well, and I'll come to that in a moment. It's been a volatile week for crude as U.S. traders digested the U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and subsequent comments by President Donald Trump around the control of Caracas' oil exports. WTI and Brent are on track for a third straight positive week for the first time since June. Shares of U.S. oil majors are on track for weekly gains after soaring on Monday amid investor optimism over possible access to Venezuela's crude reserves. The top U.S. energy executives are set to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House today. I think we've got Brian Sullivan there as well, so that'll be very interesting to see what he has to say as the administration calls on them to help rebuild Venezuela's oil infrastructure. But it's been a different story for European oil majors, with the likes of Shell, BP and Total Energies on track for sharp weekly losses. Now, our U.S. colleagues asked Dan Yergin for his take on oil prices amid reports the Trump administration is trying to get prices back down to $50 a barrel or lower this year. There's no question the president likes the idea. He said it, that he likes low oil prices because it means low gasoline prices. One of the questions is that the oil production that's most sensitive to oil prices is, of course, U.S. shale producers. So we'll have to see how they proceed over the course of, if we are in this period, of much lower prices. So absolutely fascinating. And Dan, you know, I believe every single word Dan's ever said because he just knows absolutely what's going on in all these markets. Long before anyone else is talking about Venezuela, by the way, Dan was really on it on that one as well. But look, why is the oil price rallying as well? Well, there's something else going on as well. And last summer, some of you will recall, I spoke to Senator Blumenthal, who was working on a bipartisan bill with Senator Graham. So it was bipartisan, Blumenthal being a Democrat, Lindsey Graham, as you all know, is a Republican as well, that was going to basically force higher tariffs and higher costs on anyone buying Russian oil. Well, it appears that actually Senator Graham has on Wednesday that Trump will allow now, he said that he will allow a bipartisan sanctions bill targeting countries doing business with Russia to move forward in Congress. And this has been on hold for a long, long time, as I just mentioned. So if that does go through as well, that could obviously limit the amount of buying that the Chinese and the Indians and others can make of the Russian product as well. Plus, the seizing of the tankers as well is getting people worried about the supply of Russian product and what that means for the broader market. And that is why, really, I think rather than the Venezuela story, why we're seeing the rise, because let's face it, the Venezuela story could only be dovish if you think about it. You take 50 million barrels of oil and you are allowed to sell those on the market, whatever the rights and wrongs, whatever we think about where the funds are going to go. If you take that 50 million barrels, that can only mean a potential more downside. So the counter to that is what we're seeing with potential sanctions bills moving through Congress.

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