Oil Holds Gains with Eye on U.S. Stockpiles as Supply Uncertainty
Oil held steady after rising as an industry report flagged another build in U.S. crude stockpiles, and uncertainty over global supplies persisted.
West Texas Intermediate traded near $72 a barrel after rising about 2% so far this week, while Brent crude settled above $76. The industry-funded American Petroleum Institute reported a 3.3 million-barrel increase in U.S. commercial inventories last week, which would be the fourth straight week of increases if confirmed by official data later on Thursday.
Crude has risen this week on concerns about tighter supplies, as OPEC+ looks set to push back on production increases, exports from Kazakhstan are cut by a Ukrainian drone attack, and the Group of Seven nations consider tighter price curbs on Russian oil. However, trading has calmed after a tumultuous start to the year, with measures of implied volatility declining as markets grow increasingly numb to the raft of changes U.S. President Donald Trump wants to implement.
Elsewhere, exports from Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan could resume this week, although Turkey said it had not received any notification of a cut in flows to the energy hub of Ceyhan.
Meanwhile, Trump called his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy a dictator, adding to concerns that a deal to end a three-year war with Russia will be reached without Kyiv’s involvement. Any peace deal could affect the status of Russian oil barrels currently under sanctions. WTI for March delivery, which expires on Thursday, fell 0.1% to $72.18 a barrel at 8:22 a.m. in Singapore.
The more active April contract was little changed at $72.07 a barrel.
Brent for April delivery settled 0.3% higher at $76.04 a barrel.
Source: Bloomberg
