SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Oil prices edged higher on Tuesday after the European Union agreed to slash oil imports from Russia, fuelling worries of a tighter market already strained for supply.
Brent crude futures rose $1.72 to $123.4 a barrel at 0759 GMT, after earlier rising to $124.10.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were trading at $118.7 per barrel, up $3.62, from Friday’s close.
Both benchmarks have posted daily gains since Wednesday.
EU leaders agreed in principle to cut 90% of oil imports from Russia by the end of 2022, resolving a deadlock with Hungary over the bloc’s toughest sanction yet on Moscow since the invasion of Ukraine three months ago, according to Reuters.
“It is definitely very bullish for the oil price, building on supply tensions. The oil price is now heading to the highs in March,” Reuters quoted Tina Teng, market analyst at CMC Markets, as saying.
The reopening of China is also underpinning prices, Teng said.
