oil fell this wednesday march 29 in a volatile sessiongiven that investors took profits after two straight days of gainsin a day in which the markets debated the shortage of supply.
The crude Brent fell 37 cents, or a 0.47%au$s78.28 a barrel and the contract West Texas Intermediate (WTI) yielded 23 cents, or a 0.31%$72.97.
“Markets are trying to find balance”said Dennis Kissler, Senior Vice President of Operations at BOK Financialby pointing out the strong purchases of funds in the last two days.
By the side of the offershortage concerns after a Unexpected reduction in US oil inventories and the suspension of some crude oil exports from Iraqi Kurdistan were partially seen offset by a smaller than expected production cut in Russia.
US oil stocks fell unexpectedly last week, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said, as refineries ramped up operations after the maintenance season and the country’s imports fell to a two-year low.
The EIA data also showed a larger-than-expected decline in gasoline inventorieswhich implies a strong demand for the boreal summer season.
The news of the surprise drop in inventories added to the interruption of crude oil exports of 450,000 barrels per day (bpd) on Saturday from the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan of northern Iraq following an arbitration decision.
Last Wednesday, Norwegian oil company DNO said it had begun to halt production at its Kurdistan fields. The company’s Tawke and Peshkabir fields had an average production of 107,000 bpd in 2022, a quarter of total Kurdish exports.
US oil and gas activity stagnated in the first quarter as production gains slowed and drillers’ outlooks turned negative, it showed a survey published by the Dallas Federal Reserve.
However, supply concerns eased with reports that Russian oil production is down around 300,000 bpd in the first three weeks of March, less than the planned cuts of 500,000 bpd.
Source: Ambito
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