Pressure on quotes is exerted by US tariffs against China and data that US commercial oil inventories increased by 2.5 million barrels last week.
World oil prices are falling on Thursday morning after the best growth this year the day before due to the news that the US will stop imposing import duties on a number of countries. This is evidenced by the results of trading on April 10.
Thus, the cost of June futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange decreased by $1.8 (2.75%), to $63.68 per barrel. On Wednesday, these contracts increased in price by $2.66 (4.23%), to $65.48 per barrel.
WTI crude oil futures for May delivery fell $1.71 (2.74%) to $60.64 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) in electronic trading. The price of these contracts rose $2.77 (4.65%) to $62.35 per barrel in the previous session.
As is known, on Wednesday evening, US President Donald Trump announced a 90-day suspension of tariffs on countries that did not respond to his previously announced tariff measures. At the same time, tariffs on Chinese imports increased to 125%.
China is the world’s largest importer of oil, and the increase in US tariffs may negatively affect demand for fuel and refined products in the country.
Data that commercial oil inventories in the US increased by 2.553 million barrels last week also put pressure on quotes. Analysts had forecast an increase of 2.2 million barrels on average.
Reserves at the Cushing terminal, which stores oil traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), rose by 681,000 barrels.