Oil prices edged up on Thursday on concerns about tighter global supplies following U.S. tariff threats on Venezuelan oil buyers and earlier sanctions on Iranian oil buyers, while traders weighed the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump's auto tariffs.
Brent crude futures rose 7 cents, or 0.1%, to $73.86 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 10 cents, or 0.1%, to $69.75 a barrel by 0406 GMT.
Oil prices rose about 1% on Wednesday on government data showing U.S. crude and fuel inventories fell last week, and on U.S. tariff threats on countries that buy Venezuelan crude. "The recent uptrend seems to be factoring in the noise around tariffs for Venezuelan oil buyers. We have maintained that Trump's policies on Iran and Venezuela pose the biggest upside risks to oil prices, so that's partly what's happening now," said Suvro Sarkar, head of DBS Bank's energy sector team.
India's Reliance Industries (RELI.NS), opens new tab , operator of the world's largest oil refining complex, will stop importing Venezuelan oil after the tariff announcement, sources said on Wednesday.
However, Sarkar said DBS did not see prices returning to the higher levels seen in early 2025 as demand concerns stemming from "US policy uncertainty and the tariff war will come back to haunt the market at some point again".
Traders and investors are also assessing the impact on oil demand from US President Trump's recent announcement of a 25% tariff on imported cars and light trucks starting next week. The view is that it could raise car prices, potentially hurting oil demand, but also slow the shift to greener cars.
"News about Trump's auto tariffs may actually be a positive for crude as the higher prices of new cars due to the tariffs will slow the shift to newer, more fuel-efficient models," said Tony Sycamore, market analyst at IG.
U.S. oil and gas activity increased slightly in the first quarter, but energy executives were pessimistic about the sector's prospects, a Dallas Fed survey showed, as separate Trump tariffs on steel and aluminum could raise drilling and pipeline costs. (Newsmaker23)
Source: Reuters
