Oil prices rose to an 8-year high after snow storms in the United States and the fallout from the Russia-Ukraine crisis fueled fears about supply disruptions.
Oil prices extended their gains on Friday, and by 7:43 GMT, Brent crude contracts for April delivery were trading at $91.53 a barrel, up 42 cents, or 0.46%.
US West Texas Intermediate crude contracts for March delivery also increased 51 cents, or 0.56%, to $90.78 a barrel, and the prices of the two benchmark crudes are at the highest level since September 2014.
And Reuters news agency quoted analysts that what pushed prices to rise, along with the developments of the Ukrainian crisis and the increase in demand for energy in the United States, is the emergence of new indications that OPEC is facing difficulties in increasing production.
OPEC and its allies led by Russia agreed this week to pump the agreed increase of 400,000 barrels per day, as markets were affected by a winter storm in the central and northeastern United States yesterday, which led to a power outage for thousands of residents.
Since the beginning of 2022, oil prices have risen by about 15%, and oil prices are heading to record weekly gains of about 3% for the seventh week in a row.