February 1 At the 147th OPEC meeting, held in Vienna, Austria, OPEC decided to leave its production allocations unchanged. (OPEC)

February 14 Venezuela’s state-owned oil company PDVSA cut off crude oil sales to ExxonMobil. The sales had been averaging about 50,000 barrels per day. ExxonMobil and Venezuela have been engaged in a legal dispute following Venezuela’s decision to nationalize oil projects in Venezuela by ExxonMobil and other companies.

February 19 The nominal WTI crude oil price passed the $100 mark on the NYMEX, settling at a record high of $100.01 per barrel, the first time the near-month contract ever settled above $100 per barrel.  Tight fundamentals evidenced by low levels of surplus capacity continue to put upward pressure on oil prices.