Crude up; Petronas taking steps to protect global assets; Venezuela denounces attack on gas pipeline

Oil prices extended gains on Monday, propped up by a weaker dollar and tight supplies that offset concerns about recession and the prospect of widespread COVID-19 lockdowns in China again reducing fuel demand.

Brent crude futures for September settlement rose 69 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $101.85 a barrel by 0421 GMT, after a 2.1 percent gain on Friday.

US West Texas Intermediate crude futures for August delivery edged up 27 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $97.86 a barrel, after climbing 1.9 percent in the previous session.

The US dollar retreated from multi-year highs on Monday, supporting prices of commodities ranging from gold to oil. A weaker dollar makes dollar-denominated commodities more affordable for holders of other currencies

Petronas says taking steps to protect global assets

Malaysia’s state energy firm Petronas said it was taking steps to protect the legal position of all its global assets after two Luxembourg-based subsidiaries were served with a seizure notice last week over a dispute with the heirs of a late sultan.

The last sultan of Sulu’s heirs are seeking to seize Malaysian government assets around the world in a bid to enforce an arbitration award handed to them by a French court in February. The subsidiaries were served with a seizure notice by Luxembourg court bailiffs.

Venezuela denounces attack on gas pipeline

Venezuelan Oil Minister Tareck El Aissami said on Twitter on Sunday that technical personnel at Venezuela’s state-run oil company PDVSA and firefighters were putting out a fire on a natural gas pipeline in the country’s east.

In his comments on Twitter, El Aissami called the fire “a new attack” on the gas system.

His comments on Twitter did not specify which pipeline was on fire. However, three industry sources said that he was referring to a fire on a section of a pipeline in the state of Monagas.

That fire began during the late afternoon on Saturday on a section of the pipeline near the Aguasay 5A plant, according to an internal report dated July 16 from PDVSA, as state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela is known, and reviewed by Reuters.

El Aissami attributed the fire to unidentified terrorist groups, saying “It’s the same terrorist groups as always, who have acted against the national interest to affect the lives of our people.”