Oil prices slightly fall over clashing demand, supply woes

ANKARA

Oil prices saw slight declines during a mostly steady trading session early Wednesday due to conflicting supply and demand concerns stemming from a projected massive surge in US crude oil inventories and the upcoming OPEC+ meeting, at which major oil-producing countries will decide whether to continue, stop, or add more output cuts.

International benchmark crude Brent traded at $82.31 per barrel at 10.09 a.m. local time (0709 GMT), a 0.17% fall from the closing price of $82.45 a barrel in the previous trading session on Tuesday.

The American benchmark, West Texas Intermediate (WTI), traded at the same time at $77.64 per barrel, down 0.16% from Tuesday’s close of $82.45 per barrel.

A hefty build in US crude oil inventories fueled price downticks, reflecting a slowdown in demand in the world's top oil consumer.

According to estimates by the American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday, US commercial crude oil inventories fell more than 9 million barrels last week, against the market expectation of a rise of around 1.5 million barrels.

Investors are now focused on the OPEC+ meeting on Sunday, when Saudi Arabia and Russia are due to announce their fresh production schemes.

Saudi Arabia has two major ongoing output cuts: 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) in May and 1 million bpd in June. These are on top of the existing OPEC+ cuts of 2 million bpd in place since October 2022.

Russia agreed to undertake two separate oil supply reductions, comprising a cut of 500,000 bpd in April, which will extend until the end of 2024, and an export reduction of 300,000 bpd until the end of this year.