International oil prices fluctuated slightly as traders await more dynamics to assess bullish and bearish momentum

According to Zhitong Finance APP, the benchmark for international crude oil prices—Brent crude oil prices stabilized on Monday after an unexpected 6% increase last week, showing slight fluctuations. Recently, tensions between Western powers and major oil-producing countries Russia and Iran have intensified, raising market concerns about supply disruptions and providing strong support for international oil prices.

As of the time of writing, Brent crude oil futures prices fell slightly by 0.15% to around $75.05 per barrel, showing a mix of slight increases and decreases today; meanwhile, the North American oil pricing benchmark—WTI crude oil futures prices experienced a similar decline and also showed slight fluctuations.

Last week, after Kyiv used American and British weapons to launch an attack on Russia, Russia fired a hypersonic missile into Ukraine, formally warning the United States and Western countries like the UK of a potential escalation of war. Subsequently, both Brent crude oil futures prices and WTI crude oil prices recorded their largest weekly gains since late September.

IG market strategist Yeap Jun Rong stated, "As the new week begins, oil prices have slightly retreated, and commodity market traders are anxiously awaiting geopolitical developments and more clues regarding the Federal Reserve's policy outlook to set the tone for the crude oil market."

In addition, in response to a resolution passed by the UN nuclear oversight agency on Thursday, Iran has taken new countermeasures, such as activating various new and more advanced centrifuges for uranium enrichment.

"Following condemnation due to Iran's nuclear program and the regime's agreement to hold talks, the possibility of a complete cutoff of some Iranian crude oil supplies has increased, indicating that the U.S. may firmly enforce sanctions—potentially reducing oil supply by about 1 million barrels per day," said Ashley Kelty, an analyst from Panmure Liberum.

Iran's Foreign Ministry announced on Sunday that it will hold talks with three European powers regarding its controversial nuclear program on November 29.

It is expected that the crude oil trading market will experience light fluctuations this week ahead of the OPEC+ meeting on December 1, with market participants anticipating that the organization may extend deep production cuts due to persistently weak demand in Asia.

"The OPEC+ summit on December 1 is expected to further delay the originally planned increase in production until February. Another possibility is to postpone the start of production increases until the second quarter or later, which would provide greater bullish support for the crude oil trading market," said independent energy analyst Tim Evans.

Traders are also paying attention to any demand signals from major oil-consuming countries like China and India. Due to price declines triggering stockpiling demand, China's crude oil imports in November may rebound. Sources indicated on Monday that China has issued additional import quotas of at least about 5.84 million tons (approximately 116,800 barrels per day) to independent refiners for crude oil arriving next year, which may further boost the overall crude oil import volume of demand-heavy countries like China