Oil futures trading volumes have been thin and prices volatileas traders have to balance weaker energy demand with tighter supply as a result of the loss of Russian barrels following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The European Central Bank will join other central banks in rising interest ratesfocusing on fighting runaway inflation rather than the economic slowdown, which may weigh on oil demand.
European stocks, which tend to move in parallel with oil pricesalso fell before the rate decision.
US gasoline inventories rose by 3.5 million barrels last weekgovernment data showed on Wednesday, widely beating analysts’ forecasts.
“US gasoline demand is struggling to get going during peak summer driving season,” said PVM analyst Stephen Brennock.
The Bank of Japan expects inflation to exceed its target this year in new forecasts released on Thursday, but the central bank kept interest rates ultra-low.
The National Oil Corp. Libya’s NOC said on Wednesday that crude oil production had resumed at several fields following the lifting of the force majeure on oil exports last week.
As for natural gas, Gazprom resumed flows through the pipeline North Stream 1which supplies more than a third of Russian gas exports to the European Union.
However, one of Canada’s main oil export arteries, the Keystone pipeline, was operating at a reduced rate for a third day on Wednesday, trader TC Energy said.
Source: Ambito
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