Brent crude briefly topped $86 per barrel on Monday for the first time since November, before pulling back, as Ukraine stepped up its attacks on Russian energy infrastructure.
Brent crude oil futures for May delivery were up 51 cents at $85.85 a barrel at 1333 GMT.
The April contract for U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up 62 cents at $81.66, in slow trade with the contract set to expire in the coming days. The more active May delivery contract traded up 60 cents at $81.18.
“The strikes on Russian refineries added $2-$3 per barrel of risk premium to crude last week, which remains in place as we start this week with more attacks over the weekend,” said Vandana Hari, founder of oil market analysis provider Vanda Insights.
Overall, a Reuters analysis found the attacks have idled around 7% of Russian refining capacity in the first quarter.
Amid refinery outages, Russia is set to increase oil exports through its western ports in March by almost 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) against the monthly plan to 2.15 million bpd, market participants said.
via Reuters
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