At 2202 GMT, Brent lost 38 cents to $102.40 a barrel while US crude lost 16 cents to $98.18. Last week, Brent fell 1.5% while US West Texas Intermediate slipped 1%. For several weeks now, benchmarks have been at their highest volatility since June 2020.
The market has been following developments in China, where authorities have kept Shanghai, a city of 26 million, under its “zero tolerance” for COVID-19. China is the largest oil importer in the world.
International Energy Agency (IEA) member countries will release 60 million barrels over the next six months, with the United States matching that amount as part of its 180 million barrel release announced in March.
The release might also deter producers, including the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and U.S. shale producers, from accelerating production increases even with prices around $100 a barrel, analysts said. from ANZ Research in a note.
However, the OPEC+ group of oil-exporting nations has shown no inclination to raise its production targets more than the 400,000 barrels a day it adds every month as part of a rollback from supply cuts. .
The IEA statement would represent around 2 million barrels of daily supply for the next two months – plus an additional 1 million bpd from the United States for the following four months. It is unclear whether this will make up for the lack of Russian crude following that nation was hit with heavy sanctions following its invasion of Ukraine.
Russian oil and gas condensate production fell to 10.52 million barrels per day (bpd) from April 1-6, from an average of 11.01 million bpd in March.
