AA / Ankara / Sibel Morrow
Oil prices rose in Wednesday’s trade as U.S. data showed crude reserves fell by more than expected, a sign of an improving demand situation in the region. country, however, the resurgence of coronavirus infection cases in China have limited further increases.
As of 10:00 a.m. local time (0700 GMT), a barrel of benchmark Brent crude traded at $88.45, up 0.10% from yesterday’s closing price of 88. $.36 a barrel.
The price of a barrel of American crude oil West Texas Intermediate (WTI), for its part, traded at 81.04 dollars at the same time, with a gain of 0.11%, following closing previous exchanges at 80, $95 a barrel.
Forecasts of a sharp drop in crude oil reserves in the United States favored the trend of higher oil prices.
On Tuesday evening, the American Petroleum Institute (API) announced its estimates which pointed to a decline in US crude oil reserves of 4.8 million barrels per year, beating market forecasts which had forecast a decline only 2.2 million barrels.
A sharp drop in crude reserves implies an increase in demand for crude in the United States, which would generally tend to ease market concerns regarding a drop in demand.
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) in the United States is expected to release official data on the state of oil reserves later today on Wednesday, and if an increase in reserve levels were to be confirmed, oil prices barrel should reverse the trend by triggering a decline.
A surge in coronavirus infection cases in China, the world’s biggest crude oil importer, has, however, put a damper on demand as China’s strict zero Covid policy dampens hopes of a recovery of short-term demand in the country.
* Translated from English by Mounir Bennour.
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