Oil prices jumped 5% to over $121 a barrel on Wednesday as a weather-related disruption to Russian and Kazakh crude exports via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) pipeline added to worries over tight global supplies.
Brent crude futures were up $5.95, or 5.1%, at $121.43 a barrel as of 12:01 p.m. EDT (1501 GMT). U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose $5.24, or 4.8%, to $114.51 a barrel.
The CPC pipeline has been in the spotlight as the market is on edge over the ripple effect of heavy sanctions on Russia, the world’s second-largest crude exporter, after its invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special military operation.”
