Oil prices surged over $2 a barrel on Monday, driven by disruptions in crude production and global supply concerns. Brent crude settled at $73.30 per barrel, climbing by $2.26 (3.2%), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) reached $69.16 per barrel, up $2.14 (3.2%).
The increase followed Equinor’s announcement that production at Norway’s Johan Sverdrup oilfield, Western Europe’s largest, had been halted due to an onshore power outage. The outage raised concerns about tighter supply in the North Sea crude market, which underpins the Brent futures benchmark.
Additionally, production at Kazakhstan’s Tengiz oilfield, operated by Chevron, decreased by 28%-30% due to ongoing repairs, further contributing to the tightening of global crude supplies.
Despite last week’s oil price declines driven by weak refinery run rates in China and forecasts of a supply surplus by 2025, the recent developments highlight ongoing volatility in the global oil market.
