SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Oil prices climbed on Thursday after the International Energy Agency (IEA) said markets could lose three million barrels per day (bpd) of Russian crude and refined products from April.
Benchmark Brent crude futures gained $2.26 to $100.3 a barrel by 0718 GMT, after falling for three consecutive trading sessions.
U.S.West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up $2.04 to $97.08 a barrel.
Both contracts settled lower the previous day, following an unexpected jump in U.S. crude stockpiles and signs of progress in Russia-Ukraine peace talks.
The supply loss would be far greater than an expected one million bpd per day drop in demand triggered by higher fuel prices, the IEA said in a report on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
“The enthusiasm of the market to trade the geopolitical fallout is easing, which helps to squeeze out some premium bubbles out of oil prices. It’s a time to re-assess different factors,” Reuters quoted Wang Xiao, lead researcher at Guotai Junan Futures Co, as saying.
Prices had sagged in the previous session on news that oil inventories in the United States climbed by 4.3 million barrels in the week to March 11 to 415.9 million barrels, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Reuters reported.
