Limited supply, unclear inventory putting upward pressure on oil prices

24 Jun 2022 , 10:35 AM

Early Friday morning Asian trading saw a modest increase in oil prices as countries work to address the world’s restricted crude oil and fuel supplies.

While U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures increased by 37 cents, or 0.4%, to $104.31 a barrel at 00:12 GMT, Brent crude futures increased by 39 cents or 0.4%.

In place of the previous agreement to increase output by 432,000 barrels per day a month over three months until September, the group known as OPEC+ decided at its most recent meeting on June 2 to increase output by 648,000 barrels a day in July or 7% of world demand, and by the same amount in August.

Due to some OPEC members’ underinvestment in oilfields and, more lately, reductions in Russian supply, the group has struggled to meet its monthly increase targets.

The official weekly estimates for U.S. oil stocks were supposed to be announced on Thursday, but technical issues have forced a postponement until next week, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.