Iran Energy News Oil, Gas, Petrochemical and Energy Field Specialized Channel
Related Articles
Oil prices were stable on Wednesday as the market weighed gloomy economic prospects against expectations of US crude inventory declines and plans by OPEC+ producers to reduce output.
Brent crude futures fell 22c, or 0.26%, to $84.72 a barrel by 10.53 an GMT. West Texas Intermediate was down 20c, or 0.25%, to $80.51 a barrel.
US job openings in February dropped to the lowest level in almost two years, suggesting that the labour market is cooling.
“[The data] could be the first signs of weakness in the US labour market and that is huge. Without it, [the Federal Reserve] will find it very hard to make the argument that it is pausing the tightening cycle,” said Craig Erlam, senior markets analyst at Oanda.
Traders will be looking for cues on broader economic trends from US non-farm payrolls data due this week, as weak economic data from the US and China raise demand fears.
“The present raises concerns about healthy economic expansion as Chinese, eurozone and US manufacturing activity slowed last month,” said Tamas Varga of oil broker PVM.
Record Russian diesel flows to the Middle East in March, and the sluggish performance of middle distillates contracts have “acted as a brake on any attempt to push crude oil prices meaningfully higher”, Varga added.
Still, markets saw some support from an industry report that shows US crude inventories fell by about 4.3-million barrels in the week ended March 31.
The official inventory report by the US Energy Information Administration is due at 2.30pm GMT.
Bullish sentiment continued after voluntary cuts pledged by OPEC+ that groups members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia.
“Energy traders are still digesting the OPEC+ surprise production cut and any news that suggests the oil market will remain even tighter is going to send prices even higher,” said Edward Moya, an analyst at Oanda.
