Oil prices stabilized on Wednesday amid weak trading after falling in the previous session due to concerns that new U.S. tariffs could escalate a global trade war, potentially reducing demand for crude oil.
اضافة اعلان
Brent crude futures settled at $74.49 per barrel after a 0.4% drop on Tuesday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose by 3 cents to $71.23 after also falling by 0.4%. Prices had reached their highest levels in five weeks on Monday at settlement.
The White House confirmed on Tuesday, without going into details, that President Donald Trump would impose new tariffs on Wednesday.
Priyanka Sachdeva, Senior Market Analyst at Philip Nova, stated, "Oil prices rose by about 2% in March, but have remained stable since then, as markets await clarity on Trump's plans for comprehensive tariffs. The low trading volumes in the oil market indicate growing concerns about those tariffs, despite some positive demand signals from China."
According to Intercontinental Exchange data shown on the London Stock Exchange Group's platform, the trading volume for June Brent contracts reached 13,936 contracts, compared to open contracts for the same month, which totaled 672,617 contracts.
Trump dubbed April 2 as "Liberation Day," during which he is expected to announce a package of tariffs that could destabilize the global trade system.
The recent drop in oil prices has been limited by Trump's threat to impose secondary tariffs on Russian oil and tighten sanctions on Iran as part of his administration's "maximum pressure" policy to reduce Tehran's exports.
Janif Shah, Vice President of Commodity Markets at Rystad Energy, said, "If Trump's tariff pressure succeeds and leads to a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, there is a scenario where these punitive measures could be short-term."
He added, "Oil prices have remained calm so far, waiting for an official response from major importing countries regarding the newly proposed tariffs."
U.S. oil and fuel inventories showed a mixed picture of supply and demand in the world's largest oil producer and consumer. The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported, citing sources, that U.S. crude oil inventories increased by 6 million barrels in the week ending March 28, while gasoline stocks fell by 1.6 million barrels and distillate inventories dropped by 11,000 barrels.
Official U.S. crude oil inventory data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) is scheduled to be released later on Wednesday.
(Reuters)
