{"id":13585,"date":"2025-03-13T07:57:06","date_gmt":"2025-03-13T07:57:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/roydadnaft.ir\/English\/?p=13585"},"modified":"2025-03-13T07:57:06","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T07:57:06","slug":"brent-crude-oil-reached-70-92","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/roydadnaft.ir\/English\/13585\/","title":{"rendered":"Brent crude oil reached $70.92"},"content":{"rendered":"

RoydadNaft – <\/a><\/span>\u00a0Oil prices edged down on Thursday after a surge in the previous session on a larger than expected draw in U.S. gasoline stocks, as markets weighed prevailing macroeconomic concerns against firm near-term demand expectations.<\/p>\n

Brent futures were down 3 cents to $70.92 a barrel at 0704 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down 8 cents to $67.60 a barrel.<\/p>\n

Both benchmarks rallied about 2% on Wednesday as U.S. government data showed tighter than expected oil and fuel inventories.<\/p>\n

U.S. gasoline inventories fell by 5.7 million barrels, more than the 1.9 million-barrel draw expected by analysts, while distillate stocks also dropped more than anticipated – despite gains in crude stocks.<\/p>\n

“Declining U.S. gasoline inventories raised expectations for a seasonal demand increase in spring, but concerns about the global economic impact of tariff wars weighed on the market,” said Hiroyuki Kikukawa, chief strategist of Nissan Securities Investment.<\/p>\n

“With strong and weak factors progressing simultaneously, it has become difficult for the market to lean decisively in one direction or the other,” he added.<\/p>\n

Donald Trump threatened on Wednesday to escalate a global trade war with further tariffs on European Union goods, as major U.S. trading partners said they would retaliate for trade barriers already erected by the U.S. president.<\/p>\n

Trump’s focus on tariffs has rattled investors, consumers and business confidence, and raised U.S. recession fears.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said on Wednesday that Kazakhstan led a sizeable jump in February crude output by the wider OPEC+, highlighting a challenge for the producer group in enforcing adherence to agreed output targets.<\/p>\n

Worries about flagging jet fuel demand weighed further on markets, with JP Morgan analysts saying that U.S. Transportation Security Administration data showed “passenger volumes for March have decreased by 5% year-over-year, following stagnant traffic in February”.<\/p>\n

However, recent firm global demand numbers limited overall market weakness.<\/p>\n

“As of March 11, global oil demand averaged 102.2 million barrels per day, expanding 1.7 million barrels per day year-over-year and exceeding our projected increase for the month by 60,000 barrels per day,” they added.<\/p>\n

Updated on