ISLAMABAD
Crude oil prices increased on Wednesday, a day after falling sharply, amid continuous decline in US inventories as well as outlook for a colder weather in the United States over the next few weeks.
As of 1300 hours GMT, Brent, the international benchmark for two-thirds of the world’s oil, gained $1.52 (+1.63 percent) to reach $94.80 a barrel. Brent crude futures hit the highest level since October 2014 at $96.16 on Monday last.
On the other hand, the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) price reached $93.40 a barrel, up by $1.33 (+1.44 percent). WTI crude rose to $94.94, its highest level in over seven years, on Monday last.
The price for Opec Basket was recorded at $92.85 a barrel with a decrease of 0.02 percent, Arab Light was available at $92.33 a barrel with a decrease of 2.51 percent and the price of Russian Sokol fell to $95.08 a barrel with 2.29 percent decrease.
Reports said that the situation for the supply of crude oil across the globe still remains tight, and there is an increase in the demand for the fuel. These factors have helped in holding the prices steady. Reports also said that investors are analysing the situation after the de-escalation of the tension between Russia and Ukraine.
The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated the inventory draw this week for crude oil to be 1.076 million barrels after analysts predicted a larger draw of 1.769 million barrels. The US crude inventories have shed some 80 million barrels since the start of 2021 and about 22 million barrels since the start of 2020. Global crude stockpiles are also low.
In the week prior, the API reported a draw in crude oil inventories of 2.025 million barrels after analysts had predicted a build of 675,000 barrels.
The US crude oil production rebounded in the most recent reporting week. For the week ending February 4 – the last week for which the Energy Information Administration has provided data – crude oil production in the United States increased by 100,000 bpd to 11.6 million bpd. This is down 1.5 million bpd from the pre-pandemic era.
