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Brent crude futures were up 17 cents, or 0.2%, at $105.49 a
barrel by 0939 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude gained 26
cents, or 0.3%, to $102.28.
Both contracts had gained 30 cents on Wednesday on concerns over
tight global oil supplies and another drawdown in U.S.
distillate and gasoline stocks. On Thursday the contracts traded
in range of about $3 a barrel.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said that crude
stocks rose by only 692,000 barrels last week, short of
expectations, but distillate inventories including diesel and
jet fuel fell to their lowest since May 2008. [EIA/S]
Russian oil production could fall by as much as 17% in 2022,
according to an economy ministry document seen by Reuters, as
the country contends with Western sanctions.
Concern over slowing demand weighed on market sentiment,
however.
"Fears of spluttering economic growth have sent the dollar to
highs not seen since March 2020, equity markets are tepid at
best, Chinese restrictions have not been erased from the back of
investors' minds and these have capped gains in crude oil," said
PVM Oil analyst Tamas Varga.
In China, Beijing closed some public spaces and stepped up
COVID-19 checks at others on Thursday as most of the city's 22
million residents embarked on more mass testing in an effort to
avert a Shanghai-like lockdown. The most recent lockdown has
disrupted factories and supply chains, raising fears over the
country's economic growth.
But Asia's biggest oil refiner, Sinopec Corp, expects the
country's demand for refined oil products to recover in the
second quarter as COVID-19 outbreaks are gradually brought under
control.
A slowdown in global growth owing to higher commodity prices and
an escalation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict could further
exacerbate oil demand fears.
The global economy will expand more slowly than predicted three
months ago, according to Reuters polls of more than 500
economists.
Median forecasts for global growth collected in this month's
Reuters polls on more than 45 economies were chopped to 3.5%
this year and 3.4% for 2023, down from from 4.3% and 3.6%
respectively in a January poll.
The International Monetary Fund forecasts 3.6% growth in both
years.
(Reporting by Ahmad GhaddarAdditional reporting by Mohi Narayan
in SingaporeEditing by David Goodman)
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