2024-03-21 19:15:26
Oil prices are rising on Thursday morning. The market was supported, among other things, by the news about an unexpected reduction in reserves in the United States last week, Day.Az reports with reference to Interfax.
In the long term, factors contributing to the rise in prices remain high geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, attacks by Ukrainian drones on Russian refineries and the persistence of production restrictions by OPEC+ countries, experts say.
In the morning, May Brent futures rose in price on the London ICE Futures exchange by $0.63 (0.73%), to $86.58 per barrel. On Wednesday, Brent fell by $1.43 (1.6%) to $85.95 per barrel.
By this time, May futures for WTI had risen in price on the New York Mercantile Exchange NYMEX by $0.52 (0.6%) to $81.79 per barrel. Over the last session, the contract fell in price by $1.46 (1.8%) to $81.27 per barrel.
US commercial oil inventories fell by 1.952 million barrels last week, the fastest pace in two months, the Energy Department said. This came as a surprise to analysts, who on average had forecast an increase of 13,000 barrels, according to Trading Economics.
Gasoline reserves fell by 3.31 million barrels, distillates – increased by 624 thousand barrels. Experts on average expected a decrease in gasoline reserves by 1.35 million barrels, and distillates by 87 thousand barrels.
Oil production in the United States last week remained at 13.1 million bpd, according to Department of Energy estimates.
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