Crude oil prices fell by more than 1%, at the end of trading today, Friday, March 24, 2023, for the second day in a row, amid expectations of a possible surplus in supply, but they are achieving weekly gains.
This came after US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said that refilling the country’s strategic oil reserves could take several years.
The weekly report of Baker Hughes showed that oil rigs in the United States rose 4 during the past week, bringing the total to 593 rigs.
Crude oil prices today
At the end of the session, the price of futures contracts for Brent crude – delivery in May 2023 – fell by more than 0.36%, to reach $ 75.64 a barrel.
The price of US West Texas crude futures – for May 2023 delivery – fell by 1%, to $69.26 a barrel, according to data seen by the specialized energy platform.
Crude oil prices ended their trading, yesterday, Thursday, March 23, down by more than 1%, after a volatile session, to record the first drop in 4 days.
During the week ending today, Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude achieved weekly gains of about 2.8% and 3.5%, respectively.
strategic oil reserves
Hiroyuki Kikukawa, general manager of research at Nissan Securities, said: “The decline in early trading was driven by selling from the viewpoint that the United States will not replenish oil reserves even if WTI prices are between $67 and $72 a barrel.”
The White House said in October that it would buy back oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve when prices are at or below $67 to $72 a barrel.
US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told lawmakers it would be difficult to take advantage of lower oil prices this year to add to inventories, which are currently at their lowest level since 1983 after sales directed by President Joe Biden last year.
Russian oil
Kikukawa of Nissan Securities said: The continued supply of crude from Russia to the global market weighs on crude oil prices, in addition to the ongoing concern about the banking sector. This could push the benchmarks to test the lows they hit earlier this week, Reuters reported.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said that a reduction in Russia’s oil production by 500,000 barrels per day would be from a production level of 10.2 million barrels per day in February, RIA Novosti news agency reported.
This means that Russia is aiming to produce 9.7 million barrels per day between March and June, when the production cut is in effect, according to Novak, a much smaller drop in production than Moscow previously indicated.
demand for oil
Crude oil prices received support from strong demand expectations from China; Goldman Sachs said that demand for commodities is rising in China, the world’s largest oil importer, with oil demand exceeding 16 million barrels per day.
The bank expected that the price of Brent crude would reach $97 per barrel in the second quarter of 2024, according to data seen by the specialized energy platform.
The dollar fell by more than 1% in the past week; This made commodities denominated in US dollars cheaper for holders of other currencies, to reduce negative price pressures.
related topics..
Also read..
Leave a Reply