WTI crude and Brent crude oil prices rose on Wednesday amidst ongoing concerns about tightening supply.
This morning, the WTI crude oil price was up 1.25 per cent (+1.13 USD) at 91.52 USD per barrel. Brent crude price is up by 0.94 per cent (+0.88 USD) to 94.84 per barrel.
On Tuesday, U.S. industry data showed that crude oil stock prices rose by around 1.6 million barrels last week. But the key crude stockpiles at the Cushing, Oklahoma, storage hub are near 14-month lows.
Combined with the recent OPEC supply cuts, further draws on oil inventories at the Oklahoma storage will exert additional pressure on the oil markets worldwide.
Saudi Arabia recently cut production by 1 million barrels per day which sparked the most recent rally in oil prices. Russia has also cut 300,000 barrels per day.
A Russian ban on high-quality diesel and other oil products has also supported oil prices. However, there was a slight reprieve on supply constraints after Russia amended their ban on oil exports earlier this week.
Russia softened its gasoline and diesel ban on low quality gasoline and marine fuel on Monday. The exports have already been cleared and accepted by Russian Railway and Transnseft.
The country’s export ban on high-quality diesel and gasoline remains in place. An ANZ analyst said on Wednesday that the ban “means upward pressure on crude oil demand from refineries”.