WTI Crude Prices Find Support from Potential Interest Rate Cut, U.S.-Venezuela Geopolitical Tensions

05:57 AM EST, 12/05/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Crude oil prices edged lower but U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate prices are headed for a weekly gain on Friday amid expectations of a U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate cut and tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela.

Brent crude at last look lost 0.2% to US$63.14/barrel and WTI was down 0.3% to $59.50/b. Brent was largely stable week over week, but WTI recorded a roughly 1.7% gain during that period in its second straight weekly increase, Reuters said in a Friday report.

In a Reuters poll of economists, 82% expected a 25-basis-point interest rate cut at a Fed policy meeting next week. A rate cut is expected to stimulate the economy and oil demand.

"The market weighs the impact of lower [Caspian Pipeline Consortium] exports and some positive news on the demand side, with a possible Fed rate cut," Reuters quoted Anh Pham, a senior research specialist at LSEG as saying. The lower CPC shipments follow a Ukrainian drone attack on a Black Sea loading facility.

Markets are also looking out for a potential U.S. military incursion into Venezuela, which produces about 1.1 million barrels per day of crude.

MT Newswires does not provide investment advice. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.