Petroleum prices were stable on Wednesday, as traders weighed gloomy economic prospects against expectations of U.S. crude inventory declines and OPEC’s voluntary output cuts announcement.
Brent crude futures dipped six cents, or 0.07%, to $84.88 U.S. a barrel. West Texas Intermediate U.S. crude was down four cents, or 0.05%, to $80.67 a barrel.
Support followed an industry report showed showing U.S. crude inventories fell by about 4.3 million barrels in the week ended March 31. The official inventory report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration was due later Wednesday morning.
Bullish sentiment continued after voluntary cuts pledged by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia, a group known as OPEC+.
The OPEC+ plan would bring the total volume of cuts by the group to 3.66 million barrels per day (bpd), including a 2 million bpd cut last October, equal to about 3.7% of global demand.
However, weak manufacturing activity in the U.S. and China - the two biggest oil consumers - have capped oil oil price gains.
