Crude oil has reached two-week highs
Front-month Nymex oil for May delivery settled +0.5% higher at $73.20/bbl, while May Brent crude settled +0.7% higher at $78.65/bbl, both at two-week highs.
Meanwhile, natural gas prices in the United States continued to fall, with Nymex natgas for April delivery finishing -2.8% lower at $2.03/MMBtu. This was their lowest settlement since September 2020, pushed down by expectations for more moderate temperatures across much of the country.
US crude rose more than 5% on Monday after Iraq had to cease 450K bbl/day shipments from the Kurdistan region through Turkey following an arbitration ruling that found Iraq’s agreement was required to ship the oil.
Barclays analysts warned that a sustained disruption in Kurdish oil supplies through the end of the year would imply a $3/bbl increase in their full-year Brent pricing prediction of $92/bbl in 2023.
According to Barclays, a prolonged rebound in Kurdish flows may be contingent on resetting oil revenue-sharing conditions between the Iraqi federal government and the Kurdistan regional administration, which might be a difficult process.
Occidental Petroleum was the highest performer among major oil and gas equities on Tuesday, up 4.3%, after key shareholder Berkshire Hathaway purchased approximately 3.7 million shares recently.
Crude Oil Prices Increase Due to Supply Disruptions
Crude oil prices are rising in early Asian trade due to supply problems. According to ANZ analysts, Brent crude likely increased following a disruption in Iraq exports, but OPEC shows no evidence of lowering oil production.
With an OPEC meeting coming up next week, the cartel has stated that it will maintain the course despite market volatility, according to ANZ. Analysts from CMC Markets, Tina Teng in particular, are monitoring Chinese manufacturing PMI data, due on Friday and which may have provided clues about the oil demand, as stated in a research study.
According to the American Petroleum Institute, the week ending March 24 saw a draw of 6.1 million barrels of oil. Stockpiles at the Cushing, Oklahoma, storage hub show a drain of 5.9 million barrels, a gain of 548 thousand barrels, and a draw of 2.4 million barrels in gasoline inventories. May WTI crude oil recently traded at $73.58/bbl, up from $73.20/bbl on Tuesday’s New York Mercantile Exchange.
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