WTI Crude Oil Under Pressure – Europe’s Third Wave, API Inventories in Focus
WTI crude oil prices are on the rise in early trading on Wednesday as investors rushed in after the successive declines seen over the past few sessions, but gains remain limited over continuing worries about the economic impact of the third wave of the pandemic across Europe. At the time of writing, WTI crude oil is trading at around $57.82 per barrel.
The previous session was particularly brutal for oil traders as WTI prices slumped by around 6.2% and falling to lows not seen since early February. Since the highest levels touched earlier this month, crude oil has lost over 14% of its value as markets worry about how the latest round of lockdowns across several European countries would keep oil demand under pressure in the near future.
Europe’s leading economy Germany extended its lockdown until April 18 even as chancellor Angela Merkel urged people to stay at home and not venture out during Easter. There is also growing frustration among citizens in Europe about the slow pace of the COVID-19 vaccine distribution which further prolongs the effects of the pandemic and forces governments to reimpose lockdowns and restrictions to contain the spread of infections.
Crude oil prices also face downward pressure over the release of the latest API report which revealed an unexpected build in US crude inventories. According to the API, crude stocks in the US rose by 2.9 million barrels during the previous week against economists’ expectations for a drawdown by 300k barrels instead.
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