WTI Crude Oil Closes at a Five-Month High as U.S. Inventories Drop; IEA, OPEC Issue Demand Forecasts
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil closed above US$80.00 on Wednesday for the first time since Aug.12 following a decline in U.S. inventories, sanctions on Russian exports, and amid competing demand forecasts from the International Energy Agency (IEA) and OPEC.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil for February delivery closed up US$2.54 to settle at US$80.04 per barrel, while March Brent crude was last seen up US$2.18 to US$82.10.
In its influential monthly Oil Market Report the IEA said it continues to expect supply to outpace demand in 2025, forecasting a demand gain of 1.05-million barrels per day, while supply from non-OPEC sources is seen up by 1.5-million bpd this year, even as OPEC+ continues to plan to return 2.2-million bpd of voluntary cuts to market beginning this year.
However the agency trimmed its expectations for a rise in global inventories this year to 725,000 bpd from 950,000 bpd even as it warned fresh U.S. sanctions on Russia's oil inventories could affect supply.
"New, more expansive US sanctions on Russia, announced on 10 January, may affect oil supply flows. Washington targeted two major oil producers (Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegaz), over 160 tankers carrying oil for Russia, Iran and Venezuela and ship insurance providers, further complicating oil trade logistics for those countries. But exports on non-shadow tankers remain viable for Russian oil purchased below price caps," the IEA noted.
In its Monthly Oil Market Report, OPEC maintained its forecast for a 1.4-million bpd rise in demand this year and 1.1-million bpd of supply additions outside of the cartel. The U.S. Energy Information Administration on Tuesday cut its 2025 demand-growth forecast to 104.1-million bpd from 104.3-million in its monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook.
In its weekly survey, Energy Information Administration said U.S. commercial oil inventories fell by 2.0-million barrels last week, more than the consensus estimate for a drop of one-million barrels among analysts polled by Reuters.
Source : MT Newswires
