Crude oil prices held steady on Wednesday after falling in the previous session from the highest in two months on hopes tension over Ukraine will continue to ease, putting the focus back on economic data.
The energy markets saw a quite shy opening after oil futures settled nearly 2% lower on Tuesday, reversing course from the highest level in five months hit in the previous session as fears over a possible supply disruption eased along with tension Ukraine and Russia, one of the world`s biggest oil and gas exporters.
As of 03:26 a.m. ET:
- WTI Crude for April delivery rose 0.07% to $103.40 a barrel
- Brent Crude fell 0.24% to $109.04 a barrel
Worries over Ukraine continue to ease, after President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that he sees no immediate need to invade eastern Ukraine. However, despite reduced, the remaining odds of an all-out military campaign kept the energy prices underpinned.
Hopefully, markets markets will be refocused on the US eocnomic front again as traders eye the Energy Information Administration (EIA)`s report due later today, after industry data showed a build-up in nationwide crude inventories, while inventories at Cushing fell for yet another week.
Yesterday, the American Petroleum Institute (API) said US commercial crude oil inentories rose 1.2 nillion barrels last week, meeting analsyts` median forecast, amd marking a seventh straight weekly gain. However, Stockpiles at Cushing, Oklahoma, the biggest US storage hub abd elivery point for NYMEX-traded contracts, fell for a fifth week straight by 2.63 million barrels.
- NYMEX Natural Gas rose 0.60% to $4.695 per million British thermal units