Crude prices recorded gains of more than 1.5% this morning, Monday, February 3, with the weekly opening after fears rose that the US administration would impose tariffs on the energy sector on Canada, Mexico and China, which raised market concerns about supplies. Brent crude rose by about 1.65%, trading at $76.92 per barrel, while US crude (Nymex) traded at $74.42 per barrel, up about 2.50%.
As Trump threatened in his election campaign, the White House announced on Saturday that it had imposed a 25% tariff on oil from Canada and 10% on Canadian energy resources, as these tariffs are expected to come into effect next Tuesday, as figures indicate that Canadian and Mexican oil exports to the United States are equivalent to about a quarter of the inputs of US refineries, while some reports indicated that the impact of this decision may be limited in the short term on oil prices.
In a related context, delegates to the group of oil exporting countries and independent allies in the group led by Russia, known as OPEC+, stated that the group is expected to adhere to its current plans to gradually increase production starting from April 1 at its meeting this evening, Monday, as the sources stated that it is not expected that Uzbek+ will recommend increasing its production more than planned (starting to reduce 2.2 million barrels in early April).