Oil proved stable on Wednesday as concerns about escalating hostilities in the Ukraine war potentially disrupting oil supply from Russia offset data showing rising U.S. crude stocks.
Brent crude futures for January were up 40 cents, or 0.55%, to $73.71 U.S. a barrel, U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures for December, due to expire on Wednesday, were up 56 cents, or 0.81%, to $69.95.
The escalating war between major oil producer Russia and Ukraine has kept a floor under the market this week.
On Tuesday, Ukraine used U.S. ATACMS missiles to strike Russian territory for the first time, Moscow said, while Russian President Vladimir Putin lowered the bar for a possible nuclear attack.
Norway’s Equinor on Wednesday said it restored full output capacity at the Johan Sverdrup oilfield in the North Sea following a power outage. Equinor last month said the field was producing at peak capacity of around 755,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
On the demand side, U.S. crude oil stocks rose by 4.75 million barrels in the week ended Nov. 15, market sources said on Tuesday, citing American Petroleum Institute figures.
That was a bigger build than the 100,000-barrel increase analysts polled by Reuters were expecting.
