Sawt Falasteen - Oil sinks as US ups pressure on Venezuela over crude supplies

Meanwhile equities wobbled after a record-breaking start to the year.

Crude has seen wild swings since Trump ordered the toppling of Nicolas Maduro, his counterpart in Caracas, on Saturday and said Washington would run the country while demanding "total access" to its oil.

Both main oil contracts dropped on Wednesday, having already lost ground Tuesday, after Trump announced the latest development.

"The Interim Authorities in Venezuela will be turning over between 30 and 50 MILLION Barrels of High Quality, Sanctioned Oil, to the United States of America," he wrote on his Truth Social platform.

"This oil will be sold at its market price, and that money will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America, to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States."

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Wednesday that Washington will control sales of Venezuelan oil "indefinitely".

Analysts said the shipments lowered the risk that Caracas would have to cut output owing to its limited storage capacity, easing supply concerns.

But they added that the outlook for the commodity pointed to lower prices, as the market remains well stocked after OPEC+ agreed to boost output.

Venezuela sits on about a fifth of the world's oil reserves, but observers pointed out that a quick ramp-up of output would be hamstrung by several issues including its creaking infrastructure, low prices and political uncertainty.

Crude prices only briefly picked up after US forces seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker in the North Atlantic for alleged sanctions violations, before sinking again.

US forces said they also seized another tanker in the Caribbean.

In equities trading, the Dow initially edged higher from a record closes on Tuesday, but then turned lower.

"US job openings falling to their lowest level since December 2020 and modest -- below expectations -- US private sector jobs growth dampened the bullish mood," said IG trading platform analyst Axel Rudolph.

The broader S&P 500 managed to edge higher from its record close Tuesday and set another all-time high, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose.

In Europe, Frankfurt hit a record high above 25,000 points.

Paris traded flat and London slid from a record high set on Tuesday as lower oil prices dragged on British heavyweights BP and Shell, which both fell more than three percent.

Equity markets have had a strong start to the year thanks to the relentless rush into all things artificial intelligence.

Shares in Warner Bros. Discovery edged higher after its board urged shareholders to reject an improved hostile takeover bid by rival Paramount, saying it was still inferior to Netflix's offer.

Shares in both Netflix and Paramount shares dipped lower.

- Key figures at around 1630 GMT -

West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 1.3 percent at $56.40 per barrel

Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.7 percent at $60.25 per barrel

New York - Dow: DOWN 0.3 percent at 49,305.05 points

New York - S&P 500: UP less than 0.1 percent at 6,949.00

New York - Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.4 percent at 23,643.75

London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.7 percent at 10,048.21 (close)

Paris - CAC 40: FLAT at 8,233.92 (close)

Frankfurt - DAX: UP 0.9 percent at 25,122.26 (close)

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.1 percent at 51,961.98 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.9 percent at 26,458.95 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.1 percent at 4,085.77 (close)

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1688 from $1.1693 on Tuesday

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3474 from $1.3503

Dollar/yen: UP at 156.74 yen from 156.59 yen

Euro/pound: UP at 86.73 pence from 86.58 pence

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R.Halabi--SF-PST