Oil prices fell during the previous two days, after which it stabilized during today’s morning hours. During this week, the price reached the lowest level since the beginning of April, as West Texas Intermediate crude is currently trading around $ 74.61 per barrel, while Brent crude is recording a price of $78.00
The weekly report of the Energy Information Administration yesterday showed a decline in US oil inventories, which indicates an increase in demand in the third week of April. Although the results of the report did not serve as a sufficient catalyst to support oil prices, but the rise should also be stimulated by the decision of the OPEC group and oil-producing countries to reduce oil production, which begins to take effect starting in May at a rate of 1.15 million barrels per day, and the cuts are supposed to continue until the end of this year.
At the same time, Russian oil exports have increased to several countries, led by China and Turkey, and this is happening despite Russia’s pledge to reduce oil production along with the OPEC group. Market fears of a recession and the continued struggles of the banking sector are all reasons that led to the weakness of the oil price in recent days.
In Russia, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said there was no need to cut oil production by OPEC and its allies.
Also in the energy market, the Energy Information Agency is also expected to release its weekly report on natural gas inventories during the US session today.
Investors are currently worried about the US economy, after the decline in bank deposits and the decline in the shares of the US bank First Republic, so investments have turned to safe havens as a way to preserve wealth and the value of money.
Among the expected events tomorrow are the interest rate decision and the Bank of Japan press conference to announce the upcoming monetary policy and clarify the general picture of the country’s economy. And in Canada tomorrow, Statistics Canada center will announce GDP on a monthly basis. The personal spending rate in the United States is also scheduled tomorrow.
After several central banks raised interest rates in March, experts and traders are awaiting the US interest rate to be set on the third of May, and the European interest rate on the fourth of May.
