Crude Oil Advances Amid Reports Of U.S. Plans To Strike Venezuela

(RTTNews) - Crude oil edged higher on Friday following reports the U.S. is planning to strike Venezuela's military installations, which halted the slide in prices triggered by the news of OPEC preparing to hike December output by 137,000 barrels per day.

WTI Crude Oil for December delivery was last seen trading up by $0.41 (or 0.68%) at $60.98 per barrel.

U.S. President Donald Trump has long accused the Venezuelan government, especially the military, of having links to the drug trade that paves way for free drug entry into the U.S.

The Miami Herald reported that the U.S. has identified military installations in Venezuela where it may strike as a part of its counter-narcotics measures. Any such attack could disrupt the oil supply from Venezuela.

Though the White House denied these reports, it helped oil prices to move upside.

Despite no official data to keep track of the economy, the U.S. Federal Reserve instituted a 25-basis-point rate cut on October 29.

Following the announcement, U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell cautioned investors that another rate cut in December is not a foregone conclusion. Powell also indicated that Fed officials are divergent in their opinions on interest rate cuts, and as a result, these remarks helped the U.S. dollar to gain ground.

A stronger dollar and data showing weak factory activity in China weighed on prices ahead of this weekend's OPEC+ meeting to discuss output policy.

In a recent meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea, a temporary tariff truce materialized wherein China agreed to buy more U.S. energy. This gave fresh optimism about smooth trade relations between the two major oil consumers of the world.

However, weak economic data from China capped gains from this truce. China's NBS Composite PMI Output Index slipped to 50.0 in October 2025 from 50.6 in the previous month.

While the official NBS Manufacturing PMI fell to 49.0 in October 2025, (down from 49.8 in September) the official NBS Non-Manufacturing PMI stood at 50.1 in October 2025 (unchanged from September's 10-month low of 50.0).

Reportedly, OPEC is likely to announce an increase of 137,000 barrels a day for December at their November 2 meeting this weekend. The oversupply concerns also pulled down the prices initially.

Russia is aggressively pursuing its full-scale attack on Ukraine. In its latest overnight strike involving 650 drones and 50 missiles, it targeted nuclear power plants in South Ukraine and in Khmelnitsky and Rivne causing severe damages.

A week ago, the U.S. announced new sanctions targeting Russia's two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, in an effort to pressure Russia to negotiate a peace deal in Ukraine. The two Russian oil firms export 3.1 million barrels of oil per day.