Oil Prices Rise on OPEC+ Hike Pause, Venezuela Developments

VIENNA (DTN) – Crude and oil product futures edged up Monday (1/5) morning after OPEC+ members on Sunday reaffirmed their plan to pause production hikes in the first quarter of 2026. Meanwhile, U.S. military intervention in Venezuela – -a member country of the  Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries — over the weekend seemed to have little impact on crude oil benchmarks.. 

The NYMEX WTI futures contract for February delivery rose $0.52 bbl to $57.84 bbl, and ICE Brent for March delivery advanced $0.47 to $61.22 bbl.

Downstream, the front-month ULSD futures for February delivery were up more than 1%, rising by $0.0214 to $2.1365 gallon. Front-month RBOB futures edged up $0.0059 to $1.7041 gallon.

The U.S. Dollar Index strengthened 0.237 points to 98.395 against a basket of foreign currencies.

OPEC’s November decision to keep crude oil output steady in the first quarter of 2026 came as forecasters predicted a considerable crude oil glut this year amid slowing demand growth and supply additions from non-OPEC countries.

The impact of U.S. military intervention in Venezuela on oil prices, meanwhile, remained rather muted. While a U.S. naval embargo and oil tanker seizures have forced some wells shut, production operations remained largely unaffected. Venezuela exports about 900,000 bpd of crude oil, accounting for less than 1% of global supply, a number dwarfed by both global spare production capacity and the expected supply overhang for this year.

In the U.S., monthly employment data and manufacturing PMIs scheduled for release this week will be parsed for fuel demand growth signs. Energy Information Administration data last week revealed that domestic fuel inventories, which remained historically subdued for most of 2025, surpassed year-ago levels by around 1% in the last week of December.