positive sentiment from supply curbs and prompted investors to take profits from the previous day’s gains. Different things happened to coal, the price shot up almost 10%.
Citing Refinitiv data, global crude oil benchmark Brent fell 1.2% to close at US$83.05 per barrel. Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was recorded at US$76.16 per barrel, slightly down 0.2% from yesterday’s position.
Market participants’ focus has been on the release of the minutes of the latest meeting of the US Federal Reserve after the latest economic data raised the risk of interest rates remaining higher for a longer time.
Today’s price action “appears to be more technical in nature,” said Phil Flynn, analyst at Price Futures Group. “We seem to be fading on the same old worries that the dollar will be strong and about the interest rate situation.”
US crude stockpiles have been growing weekly for about two months, and were estimated by consensus compiled by Reuters to have increased by 1.2 million barrels last week. However, signs of tighter supply have given support to prices from falling any deeper.
On the other hand, Russia plans to cut crude oil production by up to 500,000 barrels per day, or about 5% of its production, in March after the West imposed price limits on Russian oil and oil products during the armed conflict with Ukraine.
The cuts announced this month will temporarily only apply to March production, said Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak.
Russia is part of the OPEC+ group made up of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, which agreed in October to cut its oil production target by 2 million barrels per day until the end of 2023.
