London-In the volatile trading on Tuesday, oil prices rose moderately as markets weighed on concerns about Russia’s supply and China’s demand.
Brent crude oil futures rose 41 cents (0.4%) to $ 102.73 a barrel at 1117 GMT, while the US West Texas interim contract rose 18 cents (0.2%) to $ 98.72 a barrel.
Both contracts settled about 4 percent on Monday.
Demand concerns in China, the world’s largest oil importer, put downward pressure on Tuesday. Beijing, the capital of China, has expanded its COVID-19 mass inspection to most of the nearly 22 million cities in preparation for an imminent blockade of the population, as well as strict regulations in Shanghai.
However, both oil contracts rose by more than a barrel early in the session, following a statement that the People’s Bank of China would step up monetary policy support for the real economy.
The outlook for tight supply in the physical market associated with the phasing out of oil in Russia provided price support.
Germany’s ruling coalition parliamentary party has urged the government to proceed with plans to phase out Russia’s oil and gas imports “as soon as possible.”
However, analysts said the release of oil from emergency stockpiles eased concerns about tight supply.
“The focus has shifted to the demand side of the equation, and concerns about long-term supply disruptions have been greatly mitigated by the release of 240 million barrels of SPR oil by IEA members and the superficial ones dealing with Russian oil. I did. ” Tamas Barga, an oil broker PVM.
Separately, as a bearish sign of the oil market, five analysts surveyed by Reuters estimated that US crude oil inventories increased by 2.2 million barrels in the week ending April 22.
Voting took place on Tuesday at 4:30 pm EDT (2030 GMT) prior to the release of inventory reports from the American Petroleum Institute. Data from the official government energy information agency will be released on Wednesday.
By Rowena Edwards
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