Decline in oil prices and a decline in US crude inventories

Crude oil futures prices fell in Wednesday trading after one of the key technical levels provided resistance to the rise caused by continuing indicators of a bottleneck in US crude oil supplies.
Bloomberg News Agency reported that the price of West Texas Intermediate crude gave up its previous gains and fell to less than $74 per barrel, after it had risen earlier to approach its average movement during the past 200 days, reaching $75.48 per barrel. The current technical level has been serving as a ceiling for prices since last October.

Oil prices

On the economic data side, US Energy Information Administration data issued today, Thursday, showed a decline last week of 959 thousand barrels, which is the seventh consecutive weekly decline and the longest continuous period of decline in three years.
Dealers are also preparing for the cold weather in the United States, which will lead to an increase in energy consumption for heating purposes, in addition to the possibility of production stopping in some areas due to snowfall.

Global oil market

By 11:37 p.m. New York time, the price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil declined by 1.2% to $73.37 per barrel for delivery next February, and Brent crude, the global oil standard, declined by 1.1% to $76.17 per barrel for delivery next March.
This comes as Standard Chartered Bank analysts said today that the global oil market is not facing an inevitable surplus in supply during the current year in light of the slowdown in production growth with the growth in demand, as they expect the price of Brent crude oil, the global oil standard, to move between $89 and $93 per barrel most of the year. present.

Increased global demand

According to the bank’s analysts, including Emily Ashford and Paul Horsnell, global demand is expected to increase by 1.3 million barrels per day during the current year and 1.2 million barrels next year.
Analysts added that in light of the expected increase in demand and production expectations in OPEC member states and non-OPEC member states, it is possible that 200,000 barrels per day will be withdrawn from stocks during the current year.
The bank’s report stated that the price of oil is expected to reach $89 per barrel during the first quarter, $92 per barrel during the second quarter, $95 per barrel during the third quarter, and $93 during the last quarter of last year.