ISLAMABAD: Crude oil futures edged lower after early gains on Wednesday, though a potential drop in the US crude stocks and tighter supplies capped losses.
At 1255 hours GMT, Brent, the international benchmark for two-thirds of the world’s oil, shed $0.16 (-0.19 percent) to reach $84.62 a barrel. Similarly, the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) reached $83.73 a barrel, down by $0.42 (-0.51 percent).
The price for Opec Basket was recorded at $82.34 a barrel with an increase of 2.78 percent, Arab Light was available at $84.95 with 2.36 percent increase, and the price of Russian Sokol jumped to $85.93 with an increase of 2.48 percent.
According to experts, after the strong rally over the last few days, oil prices are in a wait and see mode. They said that market participants will closely watch if the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) will confirm the large draws for crude and oil products and on the next moves from the US administration.
Further underpinning the view the market remains tight, they said that oil demand had returned to pre-pandemic levels and demand in the first quarter of 2022 could exceed 2019 levels. The possibility of a spike to $100 per barrel is clearly there, they said. They said that market gains on Tuesday were mainly driven by a short-term outlook from the EIA, which projected gasoline prices would fall over the next few months.
The Russian Ministry of Energy said the nation’s oil production could once again reach record highs comparable to the Covid-19 pandemic and the ensuing oil market crisis. “We believe that in 2023-2024 production will amount to about 560 million tons. Our task is to ensure the competitiveness of our resources on the global market, and not to chase only the production figure,” Russian Energy Minister Nikolay Shulginov said in an interview.
