SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Oil prices rose on Wednesday from sharp losses in the previous session as concerns about tighter supplies from Russia and Libya dominated.
Brent crude futures rose 95 cents to $108.20 a barrel by 0924 GMT while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up $1.10 cents at $103.70 a barrel.
Both benchmarks fell 5.2% in volatile trading on Tuesday after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday slashed its forecast for global growth by nearly a full percentage point, citing the economic impacts of Russia’s war in Ukraine, and warning that inflation was now a “clear and present danger” for many countries, according to Reuters.
“The sell-off yesterday on the back of the IMF revisions was probably overdone,” Reuters quoted Warren Patterson, ING’s head of commodities strategy based in Singapore, as saying.
“I believe that risks are still skewed to the upside, with the potential for further disruptions from Libya, but more importantly, the potential for an EU ban on Russian oil.”
Global oil prices have been volatile, pulled higher by a tighter supply outlook following sanctions on Russia, the world’s second-largest oil exporter and a key European supplier, after its invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special operation”.
