Crude oil futures prices closed at the lowest level in 3 weeks on Wednesday (6th),WTI CrudeIt closed below the $100 mark as the International Energy Agency (IEA) announced plans to release 120 million barrels of crude oil reserves and last week’s supply data showed a surprise rise in U.S. crude supplies.
energy commodity prices
- Delivered in May WTI CrudeFutures fell $5.73, or 5.6 percent, to settle at $96.23 a barrel.
- Delivered in June Brent CrudeFutures fell $5.57, or 5.2 percent, to settle at $101.07 a barrel.
Both Brent and WTI had their lowest closes since March 16 for nearest-month futures, FactSet data showed.
- Gasoline futures for May delivery fell nearly 3.8% to settle near $3.046 a gallon.
- Delivered in MayThermal Fuel FuturesPrices fell nearly 3.6 percent to settle at $3.345 a gallon.
- Natural gas futures for May delivery fell 1 cent to settle at $6.029 per million Btu. After hitting its highest since late January yesterday, it rose sharply early Tuesday to an intraday high of $6.394, but eventually gave back all of it.
market driving force
International Energy Agency (IEA) Chief Executive Fatih Birol tweeted on Wednesday that the IEA will release a combined 120 million barrels of emergency oil reserves, of which 60 million barrels are from the United States as part of a program to withdraw the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) for the United States .
The U.S. government said last week that it would release 1 million barrels a day of SPR over the next six months, for a total of 180 million barrels, to ease high gasoline prices. Traders have been waiting for details of the IEA’s plans since it announced last week that member countries would combine to release emergency oil reserves.
The United States and its allies on Wednesday announced new sanctions for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including a ban on all new investments in the country, including the two adult daughters of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
However, the European Union has been delaying joining the ranks of the United Kingdom and the United States in banning imports of Russian oil.
“If Europe stops doing business with Russia, that would be the biggest concern because it might lead to a surge in crude oil and natural gas prices,” said Tariq Zahir, manager at Tyche Capital Advisors.
But EU officials said discussions regarding phasing out Russian oil and gas might increase. European Council President Charles Michel told the European Parliament on Wednesday that “sooner or later measures will need to be taken once morest oil and even gas.”
Carsten Fritsch, commodities analyst at Commerzbank, said the European Union “is currently holding on to the sharpest sword of sanctions.”
The dollar rose and crude oil extended losses as minutes from the Fed’s March meeting showed a “firm commitment to fighting inflation,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA.
Meanwhile, top U.S. oil industry executives appeared Wednesday at a House hearing on gasoline price gouging.
U.S. Natural Gas gave up all gains on Wednesday, but hit a session high of $6.394, on track for its highest close since December 2008. It is still up more than 5% so far this week.
Tyler Richey, co-editor of Sevens, said: “This weekend’s headlines of cold weather in much of the eastern half of the U.S. have been a bullish catalyst for natural gas this week, as demand is expected to surge accordingly.”
“Geopolitical anxiety caused by the Russia-Ukraine war, U.S. domestic inventories well below the 5-year average, lower implied production expectations, and lack of reinvestment by exploration and production companies (E&Ps) to increase production have contributed to bullishness,” he said. fundamental background.”
supply data
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported on Wednesday that U.S. crude oil supplies rose by 2.4 million barrels last week (4/1), following inventories fell in the previous two weeks.
According to a survey by S&P Global Commodity Insights, analysts expect U.S. crude oil supplies to fall by 1.85 million barrels last week (4/1). The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported late Tuesday that U.S. crude oil supplies rose by 1.1 million barrels last week.
In addition, the EIA also announced that gasoline supplies fell by 2 million barrels last week and distillate oil rose by 800,000 barrels.
Analysts expect gasoline supplies to fall by 350,000 barrels and distillate supplies to fall by 700,000 barrels last week (4/1), according to a survey by S&P Global Commodity Insights.
Crude inventories at the New York Mercantile Exchange delivery center in Cushing, Oklahoma, rose by 1.7 million barrels last week, but SPR inventories fell by 3.7 million barrels to 564.6 million barrels, EIA data showed.
