Oil climbed again as Kazakh outages and weak Venezuelan exports tighten outlook

Crude extended its gains on Wednesday, underpinned by fresh supply concerns following temporary shutdowns at key Kazakh fields and persistently weak Venezuelan export flows, highlighting the uneven pace of production recovery.

Brent settled up 32 cents, or 0.5%, at $65.24/barrel.

WTI rose 26 cents, or 0.4%, to $60.62/barrel. 

The advance followed a near 1.5% rally in the previous session after Kazakhstan halted output at the Tengiz and Korolev fields on Sunday due to power distribution issues, tightening near-term availability from the OPEC+ producer.

Support also came from Venezuela, where exports under a flagship $2 billion supply agreement with the US reached just 7.8 million barrels, according to vessel-tracking data and PDVSA documents. The modest volumes underscore the constraints facing the state oil company and its slow progress in reversing recent output cuts.

Sentiment was further buoyed by the International Energy Agency, which lifted its 2026 global oil demand growth forecast in its latest monthly report. The revision points to a slightly narrower surplus, reinforcing the market’s sensitivity to even short-lived supply disruptions amid an increasingly finely balanced outlook.

Written by: Farid Muzaffar