Oil prices jump after drone strike on Russian oil depot

(Sharecast News) - Oil prices surged on Friday after a Ukrainian drone strike on a major Russian oil depot in the Black Sea raised concerns about supply. Brent crude was up 1.4% at $63.87 a barrel by 1222 GMT, having jumping as much as 3.0% to $64.87 earlier on, while WTI crude rose 1.6% to $59.61 a barrel.

According to Reuters, a drone attack damaged an oil depot at Novorossiysk, a port city on the Black Sea in southern Russia, following a drone and missile strike by Moscow on Kyiv overnight.

The port was forced to temporarily suspend exports, equivalent to 2.2m barrels per day of 2% of global supply.

Oil prices had dropped sharply on Wednesday - Brent fell from $65.16 to $62.71 a barrel over the day - after OPEC updated its supply forecast, pencilling in a small supply surplus next year compared with previous estimates of a supply shortage.

Meanwhile, statistics from the US Energy Information Administration also showed a larger-than-expected increase in American crude stockpiles. The IEA also reported a rebound in demand growth in the third quarter due to stronger deliveries in China.