Oil prices are rising Wednesday ahead of the release of the results of the Federal Reserve (Fed) meeting as well as the results of the OPEC+ meeting.
The Fed is expected to raise its benchmark rate by 25 basis points (bps) on Wednesday, signaling a further slowdown in the rate hike.
Ministers of the OPEC+ monitoring committee (JMMC) will meet Feb. 1 to discuss the oil market situation. Most experts do not expect any new decisions following this meeting, notes Bloomberg.
The cost of April futures for Brent oil on London’s ICE Futures exchange by 7:15 a.m. on Wednesday is $85.66 per barrel, which is $0.2 (0.23%) higher than the price at the close of the previous session. Those contracts rose $0.96 (1.1%) to $85.46 a barrel at the close of trading on Tuesday.
The price of WTI futures for March increased by $0.32 (0.41%) to $79.19 per barrel at electronic trades of NYMEX. By closing of previous trades the cost of these contracts grew by $0.97 (1.3%) to $78.87 per barrel.
In January both Brent and WTI have fallen in price by about 1.7%. It was the third straight month of decline, despite increased investor optimism about demand prospects in China following the lifting of quarantine restrictions in the country.
“The oil market seems to have found a steady footing,” notes Yep Jun Rong, an analyst at IG Asia Pte in Singapore. – Nevertheless, any hawkish signals from the Fed on Wednesday could bring back downward pressure.”
The American Petroleum Institute (API) data released Tuesday night showed a 6.33 million barrel increase in U.S. oil inventories for the week ended Jan. 27.
The official report on U.S. energy stocks will be released at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.
