Affected by the situation in Ukraine, the international crude oil futures prices continued to strengthen on the 14th and rose in the late trading. The prices of Brent crude oil futures and New York light crude oil futures hit a new high since September 2014. As of the closing of the day, the futures price of light crude oil delivered in March on the New York Mercantile Exchange closed at US $95.46 per barrel, up 2.53%; London Brent crude oil futures for April delivery closed at US $96.48 a barrel, up 2.16%. John kirdav, founding partner of us "reinvestment" capital management company, said that the market is still highly sensitive to the tension between Ukraine and Russia, which has increased to an unusual degree. The call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden on the 12th did not bring a breakthrough. Some moves by western countries have made investors increasingly worried about armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine. US Secretary of state Blinken said in a statement on 14 July that the US State Department has initiated a temporary closure of the US embassy in Ukraine, and that the embassy business will be transferred from Ukraine capital Kiev to the western city of Lviv. Austria's JBC energy consulting company said that Russia is the world's major oil and gas exporter. If there is a conflict with Ukraine or Western sanctions, its oil and gas exports will be affected, which can not be digested by the already tight supply market. In such a tense situation, oil and gas prices may fluctuate in the new week. Nisant Bushan, an analyst at lesta energy, a Norwegian oil and gas information service, said that Russia, as one of the major oil producing countries, any interruption in crude oil production will raise the crude oil futures prices in Brent and New York. Andy Lippo, President of Lippo oil company, said that OPEC and non OPEC oil producing countries agreed to increase the average daily total production by 400000 barrels a month from August 2021. The market is skeptical that OPEC and non OPEC oil producing countries will restore their production to the pre epidemic level, while Saudi Arabia and Russia are the only two countries with large production space. Based on market fundamentals, many research institutions predict that oil prices will exceed US $100 a barrel this year, and may even reach a higher level. UBS expects the average price of Brent crude oil futures in March, June and December this year to be $90, $95 and $100 per barrel respectively. Goldman Sachs expects Brent crude oil futures to reach $100 a barrel in the third quarter of this year and rise to $105 a barrel in 2023. (Xinhua News Agency)