Oil prices are rising Wednesday on signals of declining U.S. inventories, continuing a rebound that began after an unexpected production cut by a number of OPEC+ countries last Sunday.
American Petroleum Institute (API) data released Tuesday night showed a 4.35 million-barrel decline in U.S. oil inventories for the week ending March 31.
The official data on U.S. energy stocks for the previous week will be published by the U.S. Department of Energy on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. The previous week the country’s oil reserves decreased by 7.49 million barrels.
June Brent crude futures on London’s ICE Futures exchange stood at $85.36 a barrel by 8:05 a.m. Wednesday, up $0.42 (0.49%) from the previous session’s closing price. Those contracts rose $0.01 to $84.94 a barrel on Tuesday.
The price of WTI futures for May oil grew by $0.36 (0.45%) up to $81.07 per barrel at electronic trades of NYMEX by that time. At the end of previous session the cost of contracts grew by $0.29 (0.4%) to $80.71 per barrel, the highest since January 26.
Oil prices rose nearly 7% during the first two sessions of the week. On Sunday evening, nine of the 20 OPEC+ countries announced voluntary production cuts from May to the end of the year, in addition to the commitments they had made at last October’s meeting to adjust oil production (a total reduction of 2 mln bpd to August 2022 levels).
Additional voluntary production adjustments by OPEC+ countries will total 1.66 mln bpd.
The unexpected decision of a number of OPEC+ states led to the revision of forecasts for oil prices by a number of experts and caused a new wave of concerns about inflation, Bloomberg notes.
Oil prices continue to rise on Tuesday after a year’s biggest jump in the previous session on the decision of several OPEC+ countries, including Saudi Arabia, to further cut production.
June Brent crude futures on London’s ICE Futures exchange are at $85.32 a barrel by 8:05 a.m., up $0.39 (0.46%) from the previous session’s closing price. Those contracts rose $5.04 (6.3%) to $84.93 a barrel on Monday.
The price of WTI crude oil futures for May at electronic trades of NYMEX grew by that time by $0.38 (0.47%) up to $80.80 per barrel. The contract value grew by $4.75 (6.3%) to $80.42 per barrel at the end of previous session.
The rise in value of Brent on Monday was the highest since March 21, 2022, WTI – since April 12 last year, according to Dow Jones.
On Sunday evening, 9 of the 20 OPEC+ countries announced voluntary production cuts from May through the end of the year, in addition to commitments to adjust oil production made at last October’s meeting (a total reduction of 2 million bpd to August 2022 levels).
The additional voluntary production adjustment by OPEC+ countries will total 1.66 million bpd, according to a statement released after the OPEC+ monitoring committee meeting on Monday.
The unexpected decision of some OPEC+ states led to a revision of forecasts for oil prices by a number of experts and triggered a new wave of concerns over inflation, Bloomberg notes.
Analysts at Goldman Sachs raised the price forecast for Brent for December 2023 to $95 from $90 and for December 2024 to $100 from $95 per barrel.
Rystad Energy experts admit that the price of Brent may rise to the region of $110 per barrel this summer.
Oil prices are rising on Thursday morning, rising from the previous day’s lows since December 2021.
The value of May futures for Brent on London’s ICE Futures exchange is $74.63 a barrel by 7:18 a.m., up $0.94 (1.28%) from the close of the previous session. Those contracts fell by $3.76 (4.9%) to $73.69 per barrel at the close of trading on Wednesday.
The price of WTI futures for April at electronic trades of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) is $68.42 per barrel by that time, which is $0.81 (1.2%) above the final value of the previous session. The contract fell by $3.72 (5.2%) to $67.61 per barrel on Wednesday.
The fall of oil quotations was caused by concerns that the problems of the banking sector amid rising interest rates might lead to a global recession, writes MarketWatch.
In addition, released the day before, the U.S. Energy Department data showed an increase in oil reserves over the past week by 1.55 million barrels. The increase was recorded at the end of the 11th week of the last 12 weeks.
Gasoline reserves decreased by 2.06 million barrels and distillates by 2.54 million barrels.
Experts were expecting oil reserves to grow by 1.5 million barrels, gasoline reserves to decrease by 1.62 million barrels and distillates reserves to drop by 1.4 million barrels.
Oil prices are rising on Wednesday after falling the day before to their lowest since December last year on increased fears of a recession in the U.S. as a result of problems in the banking sector.
Brent crude futures on London’s ICE Futures Exchange stood at $78.52 a barrel by 7:05 a.m., up $1.07 (1.38%) from the close of the previous session. Those contracts fell $3.32 (4.1%) to $77.45 a barrel on Tuesday.
The price of WTI April futures at electronic trades of NYMEX grew by that time by $1.09 (1.52%) to $72.42 per barrel. At the end of previous session the contracts cost decreased by $3.47 (4.6%) down to $71.33 per barrel.
Both Brent and WTI futures closed Tuesday at their lowest levels since Dec. 9.
“The oil market is acting as if a recession in the economy is imminent,” notes Price Futures Group analyst Phil Flynn, quoted by Market Wach. – With signals of increased demand in China and a pullback in the U.S. dollar, one would expect oil to withstand all this economic turmoil.”
OPEC on Tuesday kept its forecast for global oil demand growth in 2023 at 2.3 million bpd. The organization raised its forecasts slightly for the first three quarters of 2023 and lowered them for the fourth.
According to the monthly report, stronger demand growth in China will offset declines in the U.S. and Europe.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) will release its review on Wednesday.
Oil prices continue to decline on Tuesday amid a general withdrawal of investors from risk due to the situation around Silicon Valley Bank in the United States.
May Brent crude futures on London’s ICE Futures exchange stood at $79.91 a barrel by 7:05 a.m., down $0.86 (1.06%) from the previous session’s closing price. Those contracts fell $2.01 (2.4%) to $80.77 a barrel on Monday.
The price of WTI April futures on NYMEX fell by $0.82 (1.1%) to $73.98 per barrel by that time. The contracts value has fallen by $1.88 (2.5%) to $74.8 per barrel at the end of previous session.
As it was informed, Silicon Valley Bank last Friday was taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The latter transferred assets of the bank to a new legal entity and promised to provide full compensation to all depositors.
In connection with these events, the Federal Reserve System (FRS) announced a new mechanism for providing funds to financial institutions totaling $25 billion.
On Tuesday, traders’ attention is focused on U.S. consumer price data for February, which is important for the Fed’s decision on the future level of the benchmark interest rate.
The futures market estimates a less than 50 percent chance of a 25 basis points (bps) Fed rate hike at the March meeting, although last week traders considered a 50 bps hike to be the most likely scenario, Bloomberg notes.
“The oil market could not avoid the consequences of the Silicon Valley Bank collapse,” notes Warren Patterson, who is in charge of commodity markets strategy at ING Groep NV. – High market volatility may persist in the short term, given the upcoming release of U.S. inflation data.”
OPEC will release its monthly oil market report on Tuesday, and the market awaits a similar review from the International Energy Agency (IEA) on Wednesday.
Oil prices are showing moderate growth on Monday morning after a sharp decline last week.
The cost of May futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange at 7:02 a.m. is $83.11 per barrel, which is $0.33 (0.4%) higher than the price at the close of the previous session. As a result of trading last Friday, these contracts rose by $1.19 (1.5%) to $82.78 per barrel.
The price of WTI futures for April in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) is currently $77.01 per barrel, which is $0.33 (0.43%) higher than the final value of the previous session. Last Friday, the contract rose in price by $0.96 (1.3%) to $76.68 per barrel.
At the end of last week, Brent fell by 3.6%, WTI – by 3.8%.
The main negative factor for the oil market last week was the fear of a more aggressive monetary policy of the Federal Reserve. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said that the central bank would have to raise rates more than previously expected to fight inflation.
In addition, on Friday it became known that the American bank Silicon Valley Bank came under the control of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The FDIC will sell the assets of Silicon Valley Bank, which will allow it to make payments on uninsured deposits.
“Fears of further tightening of the SAR and risks in the financial industry have raised concerns about demand,” said Charu Chanana, market strategist at Saxo Capital Markets Pte. Charu Chanana, a market strategist at Saxo Capital Markets Pte.
Meanwhile, the number of operating oil rigs in the United States last week decreased by 2 units to 590, according to oilfield services company Baker Hughes. The number of rigs declined for the fourth week in a row, updating the lowest level since June last year.
