Crude rises on Russia-Ukraine tensions

Crude oil futures held steady on Tuesday after Ukraine struck Russia with longer-range, U.S.-made missiles.

The strikes came after President Joe Biden authorized Ukraine to use the longer-range missiles for limited strikes in Russia in a major departure from Washington’s previous position.

Russia’s defense ministry said Tuesday that Ukraine hit a facility in the Bryansk region with six ATACAMS missiles as tensions escalate in Eastern Europe. In response, Russian President Vladimir Putin lowered Moscow’s threshold for using nuclear weapons.

U.S. equity markets tumbled earlier in the session on rising geopolitical tensions, but have since largely erased those losses.

Here are Tuesday’s closing energy prices:

• West Texas Intermediate December contract: $69.39 per barrel, up 23 cents, or 0.33%. Year to date, U.S. crude oil has declined about 3%.
• Brent January contract: $73.31 per barrel, up 1 cent, or 0.01%. Year to date, the global benchmark has lost nearly 5%.
• RBOB Gasoline December contract: $2.0377 per gallon, higher by 0.96%.Year to date, gasoline has fallen about 3%.
• Natural Gas December contract: $2.998 per thousand cubic feet, adding 0.84%. Year to date, gas has gained about 19%.

While oil prices were little changed Tuesday, crude futures rose about 3% on Monday on fears the war between Ukraine and Russia was intensifying.

Biden’s decision to allow the use of U.S.-made missiles to hit targets in Russia comes just two months before he departs office. President-elect Donald Trump campaigned on ending the war in Ukraine.

Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine roiled global energy markets in 2022 as European nations sought to end their dependence on Russian natural gas.