Oil prices swung on Wednesday, losing earlier gains, and slumped to six-month lows as investors weighed fall in US inventories against recession fears hitting demand and the possibility of supply increasing if Iranian oil resumes entering global markets.
Persecondnews.com gathered that prices rose in the morning session as US crude inventories fell by about 448,000 barrels for the week ended August 12.
Brent, the global benchmark for two thirds of the world’s oil, was trading 0.43 per cent lower at $91.94 per barrel at 12.50pm UAE time on Wednesday. West Texas Intermediate, the gauge that tracks US crude, was down 0.32 per cent at $86.25 a barrel.
China, the world’s second-largest economy and a top importer of crude, continued to carry out strict movement restrictions to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
The United States said it was studying the Iranian response to a European Union proposal to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, named the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which was abandoned by former president Donald Trump in 2018.
“It will require some time to digest what has been provided to the EU and in turn what has been provided to us,” US State Department spokesman Ned Price said.
A revival of the nuclear deal between the US and Iran is expected to add 4 million barrels of Iranian oil per day to the market to ease supply concerns, said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, an analyst at Swissquote Bank.
The deal would help Iran to pump more oil into the market and ease the supply crunch caused by Russia’s military offensive in Ukraine and subsequent sanctions imposed by the US and the UK on the import of Moscow’s crude.
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