Kazakhstan, Libya supply fear drives oil prices up
Oil prices went up on Monday amid supply disruptions in Kazakhstan and Libya.
Oil prices went up on Monday because of supply disruptions in Kazakhstan and Libya, with Brent crude and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) witnessing small bumps in prices.
Brent crude rose 24 cents, or 0.3%, to $81.99 a barrel at 07:30 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up 22 cents, or 0.3%, at $79.12 a barrel.
The protests in Kazakhstan, which were sparked last week by a post-New Year's gas price hike in the country, disrupted supply lines from the Central Asian state and hit production at the country's top oilfield Tengiz.
Kazakhstan is currently stepping up its production again.
Pipeline maintenance in Libya also affected supplies, with the country's production going down to 729,000 bpd from a high of 1.2 million bpd.
Market watchers are also keeping an eye on two developments that could affect global oil prices, which are escalations in Ukraine between NATO and Russia and the revival of the JCPOA if the US agrees to abide by its commitments in the deal.