Oil prices settle lower as strong Russian crude demand offset US GDP data

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On Friday, both US WTI (West Texas Intermediate) and UK crude oil futures’ prices had closed out the week almost flatlined, as robust demands of Russian crude appeared to have offset the pessimism spiralling around a cascade of caustic US data last week.

If truth is to be spoken, US GDP grew by 2.9 per cent over Q4, 2022, however, nearly a half of the percentage points’ gains came from an unprecedented increase in inventories, as American households appeared to be tightening their belts on spending amid a lacerating inflation-surge.

Aside from that, optimism over a rapid recovery in China oil demand following an end of a three-year long zero-Covid policy coupled with a strong middle distillate margins appeared to have heightened up investors’ morale, eventually paring some of weekly losses following a week that was marred with a mirage of mixed signals.

According to data from a press agency, Russian crude supplies would highly likely to soar by over a 50 per cent this month compared to a month earlier, as sellers seemed to be vying to vent out a way to meet up strong demands from a barrage of Asian countries.

Meanwhile, addressing to a robust demand of Russian crude oil, a partner at Again Capital LLC in New York, John Kilduff said, “If Russian supply remains strong heading into next month, oil is probably going to continue to trend lower”.

Crude oil falls amid strong Russian crude demand

Citing statistics, in the day’s commodity market round-off, the UK crude futures’ prices faltered 0.9 per cent to $86.66 a barrel, while US WTI (West Texas Intermediate) crude oil futures’ prices rose by 1.6 per cent to $79.68 a barrel.

Over the week, UK crude oil futures’ prices remained almost dithered compared to last week’s settlement, while US WTI crude oil futures’ prices had been met with a hefty whiplash of 2.0 per cent.