Oil prices reached $95.65 a barrel today for Brent crude futures contracts.
The price of US West Texas Intermediate crude futures hit $88.53 a barrel.
According to the report of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries “OAPEC”, that weekly developments in global oil markets, in light of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, crude oil futures prices recorded the first weekly losses in four weeks, equal at about 2.6% for Brent crude oil and 3.9% for West Texas crude oil.
The US Energy Information Administration also lowered its forecast for global oil demand growth in 2023, due to the expected decline in GDP growth. And the high number of coronavirus infections in some Chinese cities earlier in the week raised concerns about weak demand in the world’s largest oil importer. US commercial oil inventories also rose more-than-expected, reaching their highest levels since July 2021.
US oil production also increased, as the number of oil platforms increased, at the fastest rate in about five months, to reach the highest levels since March 2020.
Oil prices received support from the Chinese government’s easing of strict restrictions related to the Zero-Covid policy at the end of the week, which raised hopes for an improvement in economic activity and oil demand. The US Energy Information Administration expects US oil production growth in the year 2023 to be 21% lower than previous expectations, coinciding with expectations of rising costs of producing shale oil from new wells.
