London — Oil prices rose on Wednesday after Venezuela raised the prospect of a halt to some crude exports, but gains were capped by reports that the US government had asked Saudi Arabia and some other Opec producers to increase output. Falling Venezuelan oil production helped push up global crude benchmark Brent to more than $80 a barrel in May. Brent was up 20 US cents a barrel at $75.58 by 9am GMT. US light crude was unchanged at $65.52. Venezuela has the world’s biggest oil reserves and is a key supplier to US fuel markets but its output has been hampered by inadequate investment, mismanagement and a confrontation with the US that has led to sanctions. Three sources have told Reuters that Venezuelan state firm PDVSA is considering declaring force majeure on some exports, amid plummeting output and tanker bottlenecks at ports. "It’s a tug of war between the loss of supply from Venezuela and Iran and the potential output increase from Opec and US shale," said Tony Nunan, risk manag...
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