Crude oil prices have ended 2022 close to where they started the year, despite a broad array of factors that disrupted global energy markets over the last 12 months.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil rose 4.5 percent, to about $79 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange in 2022. Brent, the international benchmark for oil prices, climbed roughly 8 percent, to around $84 per barrel on London’s ICE Futures exchange.
The U.S. and Brent contracts had soared to as much as $130 and $127, respectively, this past spring amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Yet, by the fourth quarter, oil prices erased their postwar gains.
Europe and Russia
The military conflict in Eastern Europe had shattered the international energy industry, sending petroleum product prices higher worldwide. As a result, Western governments have pledged to transition away from Russian oil and gas by building vast stockpiles, instituting a price cap on Moscow’s exports, and renewing consumption of nuclear power, coal, and natural gas….