Oil prices stabilized today, Wednesday, after losing gains in the first trading hours in light of expectations that US oil production growth will remain largely at its levels until 2025, which eases fears of excess supply.
A barrel of Brent crude fell marginally by 0.04% to $78.56 a barrel, while a barrel of US crude settled at $73.26, at the time of preparing the report.
A barrel of Brent rose 0.5% to $78.97 a barrel, in the first hours of today’s trading, while a barrel of US crude rose 0.6% to $73.72.
American production
The US Energy Information Administration said yesterday in its short-term energy forecasts that US domestic production will not exceed the record recorded in December 2023, which exceeds 13.3 million barrels per day, until February 2025.
The Energy Information Administration also reduced its forecast for domestic oil production growth in 2024 by 120,000 barrels per day to 170,000 barrels per day, which is sharply lower than last year’s production increase of 1.02 million barrels per day.
US government data on oil inventory is scheduled to be released later today, and US crude inventories are expected to rise by 1.9 million barrels last week as production recovers from a cold spell and maintenance begins at refineries.
War developments
Meanwhile, mediation efforts are underway between Israel and the Palestinian resistance regarding a truce in Gaza, after Hamas delivered its response to the proposed ceasefire agreement in the Strip, which also includes the release of prisoners in the hands of the resistance.
Dealers are closely following the situation in the Middle East, especially the attacks launched by the Houthi group in Yemen on ships in the Red Sea that say they are Israeli or heading to Israel, which have disrupted traffic through the Suez Canal, which is the fastest sea route between Asia and Europe, and approximately 12% of traffic passes through it. from global trade.
In this context, the Director of Energy Markets and Security at the International Energy Agency, Keisuke Sadamori, said that deliveries of oil products are being delayed after ships were diverted away from the Red Sea to avoid attacks launched by the Yemeni Houthi group.
Reuters quoted Sadamori as saying on the sidelines of the India Energy Week: “We are witnessing a delay in various deliveries of petroleum products, which is affecting product markets in Europe in particular.”
