Oil prices are rising on Thursday after falling the day before due to data on the growth of US stockpiles.
The cost of April futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange as of 7:20 a.m. is $80.84 per barrel, which is $0.29 (0.36%) higher than at the close of the previous trading. On Wednesday, these contracts fell by $1.95 (2.4%) to $80.55 per barrel.
March futures for WTI in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) have risen in price by this time by $0.3 (0.4%) to $76.15 per barrel. As a result of the previous trading, the value of these contracts fell by $1.97 (2.5%) to $75.85 per barrel.
In January, oil prices rose for the first time in 4 months amid Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea and retaliatory measures by the United States and its allies. Brent went up by 6.1% over the month, while WTI rose by 5.9%.
Last weekend it became known about the death of three US military personnel as a result of a drone attack on a US base in Jordan. Traders are waiting for the US to retaliate, fearing further escalation of the conflict in the region.
“In general, the market remains cautious, waiting for Washington’s response to the attack on the base in Jordan, as well as how Iran will react further,” ING analysts said in a review, as quoted by Market Watch.
The report of the US Department of Energy, published the day before, showed an unexpected increase in oil reserves in the country and an increase in production.
Commercial oil reserves in the United States last week increased by 1.23 million barrels to 421.91 million barrels, the Energy Department said. Experts surveyed by Bloomberg had on average predicted a decrease in reserves by 1.1 million barrels.
Oil production in the United States increased last week, exceeding 13 million barrels per day.
