Crude Oil Futures Prices Fall Amid Concerns of Economic Recession and Weak Demand

Crude oil futures prices fell on Wednesday (26th) to lower prices so far this month, due to market concerns that an economic recession may dampen energy demand.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released last week’s U.S. crude oil supply data on Wednesday, which helped limit losses in oil prices during trading hours, but failed to provide lasting support.

energy commodity prices

• West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures for June delivery fell $2.77, or 3.6%, to settle at $74.30 a barrel, the lowest close for WTI’s front-month futures since March 29 and down 1.8% so far this month. .
• June delivery Brent Crude OilFutures fell $3.08, or 3.8%, to settle at $77.69 a barrel, down 2.6% so far this month.
• July delivery Brent Crude OilFutures fell $2.88, or 3.6%, to settle at $77.72 a barrel, the most actively traded Brent Crude Oilfutures.
• Gasoline futures for May delivery fell 1.5% to settle at $2.55 a gallon.
• delivered in MayHot Fuel FuturesPrices fell 3.2 percent to $2.37 a gallon.
• Natural gas futures for May delivery tumbled 8.2% to settle at $2.12 per million Btu, and the futures closed for expiration today.
• Natural gas futures for June delivery fell 5.4% to settle at $2.31 per million Btu.

market drivers

Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK, said: “Oil prices dipped below $80 a barrel, looking set to retest recent lows amid concerns over weak demand.”

However, Hewson believes that it may not be too long before the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, known as OPEC+, will come forward with an announcement that they will cut production “again if demand appears to remain weak.”

Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Price Futures Group, said Wednesday’s oil supply data from the EIA should have been quite bullish, with demand for gasoline soaring and the supply side worrisomely tight. It was supposed to go up.

EIA announced that last week (4/21 ended) US commercial crude oil inventories fell by 5.1 million barrels.

Analysts polled by S&P Global Commodity Insights on average forecast a draw of 2.3 million barrels in crude inventories last week. Crude inventories fell by 6.1 million barrels last week, the Petroleum Producers Association (API) reported late on Tuesday.

Matt Smith, chief oil analyst for the Americas at Kpler, said: “Strong exports and solid refinery runs have taken a solid depletion of crude inventories. Strong implied demand for petroleum products is a supportive report, with gasoline and distillate inventories flat. decline”

Gasoline inventories fell by 2.4 million barrels last week, while distillate stocks fell by 600,000 barrels, the EIA report showed.

Analysts polled by S&P Global Commodity Insights on average expected a drop of 180,000 barrels for gasoline and 1.2 million barrels for distillates last week.

Crude inventories at the Nymex delivery hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, rose by 300,000 barrels last week, while total domestic oil production edged down by 100,000 barrels to 12.2 million barrels per day, the EIA said.

Meanwhile, natural gas futures tumbled. The EIA will release its report on U.S. natural gas supplies on Thursday.

Analysts on average expected a build of 72 billion cubic feet of natural gas last week, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights, which analysts said would mean a rise of nearly 43 billion cubic feet above the five-year average build of 43 billion cubic feet. 70%.