By Seher Dareen
LONDON (Reuters) -Oil prices rose on Tuesday as concerns about supply disruptions grew amid an escalation of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and as the market weighed whether upcoming U.S. jobs data would lead to interest rate cuts.
Brent crude added $1.12, or 1.6%, to $69.27 a barrel by 0854 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $65.78 a barrel, up $1.77, or 2.77%.
WTI futures did not settle on Monday due to the Labor Day holiday in the U.S.
Expectations of another crude draw were boosting the market, UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo said.
The U.S. summer driving season ended on Monday’s Labor Day holiday, signalling the end of the highest demand period in the United States, which is the world’s largest fuel market.
On the supply side, recent Ukrainian drone attacks shut down facilities accounting for at least 17% of Russia’s oil-processing capacity, or 1.1 million barrels per day, according to Reuters’ calculations.
Investors now await a meeting among members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies on September 7 for any clues on future production plans.
Analysts believed the group would not unwind the voluntary cuts of about 1.65 million bpd in place from eight members, which were supporting the market and keeping prices in the $60 a barrel range.
Oil prices could fall for a fourth straight year, averaging $55 a barrel in the last quarter of this year before OPEC+ steps in to stabilise the market into 2026 by cutting output, analysts at SEB commodities said in a note to clients.
A raft of U.S. labour data is due this week ahead of the Federal Reserve’s September meeting, which could strengthen the case for monetary easing after surprisingly weak U.S. payrolls data released in July.
(Reporting by Seher Dareen in London, Anjana Anil in Bengaluru and Colleen Howe in Beijing; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman, Sonali Paul, Alexandra Hudson)
