Oil prices settled up slightly on Wednesday as signs of ample supply, including growing U.S. crude inventories, offset growing hopes for higher demand after a jump in manufacturing in top crude importer China.
Brent crude futures settled up 86 cents, or 1%, to $84.31 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) settled up 64 cents, or 0.8%, to $77.69.
U.S. crude inventories rose by 1.2 million barrels last week to 480.2 million barrels last week to the highest since May 2021, government data showed, beating analyst expectations of a 457,000-barrel rise. It was the 10th straight weekly increase.
A widening discount of WTI to Brent contributed to a jump in U.S. crude exports last week to record high at 5.6 million barrels per day, which resulted in a smaller build than in previous weeks, according to UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo.
In other signs of ample supply, Russia’s oil production reached the pre-sanctions level for the first time in February, media reports said. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (OPEC) production also rose in February.
Russia’s second-largest oil producer Lukoil has set up ship-to-ship (STS) loadings of Urals oil near the western port of Kaliningrad, Refinitiv Eikon data showed and trading sources told Reuters.
STS loadings of Russian Urals crude hit a record high in the Mediterranean in January as traders moved cargoes onto larger vessels to make long-haul shipments to Asia more cost-effective.
