Brent crude futures rose to $67.37 a barrel, yesterday after Israel attacked Hamas leadership in Qatar. Poland, however shot down drones in its airspace and the U.S. made a push for new sanctions on buyers of Russian oil, although concerns about excess crude supply capped gains.

The price of U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures also increased and hit $63.60 a barrel. According to Reuters, prices had settled 0.6% higher in the previous trading session after Israel said it had attacked Hamas leadership in Doha. Both benchmarks increased nearly two per cent shortly after the attack, but then retraced much of their gains.

According to Reuters, geopolitical tensions also rose when Poland shot down drones during a widespread Russian attack in western Ukraine yesterday, marking the first time a NATO member fired shots in the war.

However, there was no immediate threat of oil supply disruption. Reuters reported SEB analysts as having said: “The dark cloud of surplus ahead is … hanging over the market with Brent trading two dollars lower than last Tuesday. Geopolitical risk premiums in oil rarely last long unless actual supply disruption kicks in.”

“US President Donald Trump has urged the European Union to impose 100% tariff on China and India – major buyers of Russian oil – as a strategy to pressure Moscow to enter peace talks with Ukraine, according to sources.”

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said: “With European Union officials in Washington to discuss Russia, the bloc was considering a faster faster pppoooot of Russian fossil fuels as part of new sanctions against Moscow.”