Oil prices extended losses on Wednesday after former US President Donald Trump said Venezuela would hand over tens of millions of barrels of crude to the United States, while global equities traded mixed following a record-breaking start to the year.
Crude markets have experienced sharp volatility since Washington announced moves against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro over the weekend, with Trump saying the US would oversee the country’s administration and demand full access to its oil resources.
Both major oil benchmarks fell by more than one per cent on Wednesday, adding to losses of between 1.7 and 2.0 per cent recorded a day earlier, after Trump said the interim authorities in Venezuela would transfer between 30 million and 50 million barrels of sanctioned oil to the US. Analysts said the proposed shipments could ease supply concerns by reducing pressure on Venezuela’s storage capacity, but noted that ample global supplies — bolstered by an OPEC+ agreement to increase output — continued to weigh on prices and point to a softer outlook for crude.