Oil prices stabilized on Thursday, December 28, after falling the day before due to signals that the supply of raw materials on the market exceeds demand.
As reported by Ukrinform, this was reported by enkorr.
The price of February futures for Brent oil on the London ICE Futures exchange was $79.61 per barrel, which is $0.04 (0.05%) lower than the close of previous trading. As a result of trading on Wednesday, these contracts fell in price by $1.42 (1.8%) to $79.65 per barrel.
The price of WTI oil futures for February in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) decreased by $0.09 (0.12%) to $74.02 per barrel. The day before, the price of contracts fell by $1.46 (1.9%) to $74.11 per barrel.
Data from the American Petroleum Institute (API), published overnight from Wednesday to Thursday, showed an increase in US inventories last week by 1.837 million barrels. In particular, inventories have increased at the Cushing terminal, where crude oil traded on Nymex is stored.
The US Department of Energy will release official data on energy reserves on Thursday at 18:00 Kyiv time. The increase in Cushing oil inventories, if confirmed, would mark the tenth consecutive week of increases, marking the longest period of continuous increases since 2016.
Concerns about demand prospects, especially in China, are growing, said CIBC Private Wealth analyst Rebecca Babin, as quoted by Market Watch. Oil consumption in China, which was quite high in the first three quarters of this year, is weakening, she notes.
“The lack of confidence in the prospects for the Chinese economy in 2024 is the main current concern for market participants,” says Babin. “The second biggest concern is the possibility that U.S. production will exceed forecasts, as it did in 2023.”
