While Middle East tensions and Ukraine attacks exacerbate market jitters, Brent reaches $67 and WTI $63 as Trump presses NATO to stop purchasing Russian oil.

As traders weighed actions to curb Russian flows against predictions of a surplus later in the year, oil continued to rise from the previous week.

After rising 2.3% the previous week, Brent was trading above $67 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate was trading at about $63. Following his earlier declaration that he is ready to proceed with "major" penalties on the supply of petroleum from the OPEC+ member if NATO nations follow suit, US President Donald Trump reaffirmed demands on Europe to cease purchasing oil from Russia.

Some members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, such as Hungary and Turkey, still buy Russian oil, even though the majority of European countries have reduced or stopped doing so. As the US prepares to force its Group of Seven partners to slap tariffs of up to 100% on China and India for their imports of Russian oil, Trump has stepped up his pressure on the alliance.

Following Israel's assault in Qatar last week and Ukraine's strikes on Russian refineries and ports, traders are also keeping an eye on events in the Middle East. Drones attacked the Kinef facility over the weekend. It is operated by Surgutneftegas and is one of the biggest in the country, having an annual capacity of over 20 million tons.

According to Vandana Hari, the founder of the Singaporean market analysis company Vanda Insights, the Ukraine impasse is the main driver of the oil market, and the immediate risk is positive due to the possibility of more sanctions and attacks on Russian oil export infrastructure.

For most of the last month, oil prices have hovered around $5 a barrel. The conflicting forces of geopolitical concerns and pessimistic fundamentals have caused hedge funds to reduce their bullish position on US crude to its lowest level ever. The International Energy Agency has predicted a record surplus for next year as a result of OPEC+ beginning to reverse a fresh layer of suspended oil output ahead of schedule.

Hari claims that worries about an overhang drive down prices, but only when the flow of news about Ukraine slows down.