Crude oil remains flat in early trade

9 Mar 2023 , 08:31 AM

On Thursday, oil prices remained almost unchanged due to a larger-than-anticipated drop in US crude stocks and concerns that more aggressive US interest rate increases would slow economic growth and reduce oil consumption.

Brent crude futures had increased by 5 cents to $82.71 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures had increased by 5 cents to $76.71 per barrel.

With remarks by U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell that the central bank will probably need to raise interest rates more than expected in reaction to recent positive data, oil futures plummeted more than 3% on Tuesday and had their biggest daily decline since early January.

According to government data, U.S. oil stockpiles decreased by 1.7 million barrels last week compared to analyst expectations for a gain of 395,000 barrels. Late on Tuesday, industry statistics revealed a first-time drop in crude inventories following a 10-week rise.

Official data show that US gasoline inventories decreased by 1.1 million barrels, less than the 1.8 million projected, raising concerns about demand. In contrast to estimates for a 1-million-barrel drop, distillate stockpiles increased by 138,000 barrels.

At a conference in Houston on Wednesday, oil ministers and executives continued to discuss the tight supply, with Angola’s secretary of state for oil and gas arguing that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries did not need to increase production to offset Russia’s 500,000 barrel per day cut.

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