Oil Prices Hold Near 10-Month High Amid Supply Tightening

13 Sep 2023 , 10:02 AM

Oil prices continued to rise on Wednesday, maintaining their new 10-month high reached the previous day. This increase was driven by expectations of tighter global supply and concerns about potential supply disruptions in Libya, which outweighed worries about reduced demand in certain countries, notably China.

The international benchmark, Brent futures, increased by 8 cents or 0.1% to reach $92.14 per barrel as of 0054 GMT. Similarly, U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose by 14 cents or 0.2% to reach $88.98 per barrel.

Both of these benchmarks experienced nearly a 2% surge on Tuesday, closing at their highest levels since November 2022.

Market sentiment remains positive due to the optimistic demand outlook presented by OPEC and the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) prediction of a decline in global oil inventories, indicating tightening supply conditions in the future, according to Satoru Yoshida, a commodity analyst at Rakuten Securities.

Furthermore, the news that OPEC member Libya had to shut down four of its eastern oil export terminals due to a deadly storm contributed to the support for oil prices.