Oil prices steadied on Wednesday after a decline the day before, as a rise in U.S. crude inventories and global recession worries countered optimism for a demand recovery in China.
Crude has rallied in 2023, with global benchmark Brent crude topping $89 a barrel this week for the first time since early December at the end of China’s COVID-19 controls and amid hopes that the rise in U.S. interest rates will soon taper off.
Brent crude was last up two cents, or 0.24%, to $86.34 U.S. a barrel after declining 2.3% in the previous session. West Texas Intermediate U.S. crude added 26 cents, or 0.32%, to $80.39, after a 1.8% drop on Tuesday.
Weighing on prices was a report on Tuesday that U.S. crude stocks rose by about 3.4 million barrels in the week ended Jan. 20, according to market sources citing American Petroleum Institute figures.
Elsewhere on the supply side, reports emerged Wednesday volume should remain steady from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, a group known as OPEC+.
An OPEC+ panel is likely to endorse the group’s current policy at a Feb. 1 meeting, OPEC+ sources said on Tuesday. OPEC+ in October decided to trim output by two million barrels per day from November all through calendar 2023 on a weaker economic outlook.
