|
Brent crude was up $1.37, or 1.5%, at $94.65 a barrel around
1200 GMT, having slid 3.3% overnight after Russia announced a
partial pullback of its troops near Ukraine.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up $1.27, or 1.4%,
at $93.34 after the contract ended Tuesday's session with a 3.6%
decline.
Both benchmarks hit their highest since September 2014 on
Monday, with Brent touching $96.78 and WTI reaching $95.82.
The price of Brent jumped 50% in 2021 while WTI soared by about
60% as a global recovery in demand from the COVID-19 pandemic
strained supplies.
Moscow announced a partial pullback of troops from Ukraine's
borders, but NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on
Wednesday that the alliance had not seen any de-escalation and
that Russia was continuing its military build-up.
"The risk of a full scale invasion has receded a bit. But we are
unlikely to move out of the current status quo," said Bjarne
Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst at SEB in Oslo.
Beyond Ukraine tensions, the oil market remains tight and prices
could still be on course for a move towards $100 a barrel.
"The price action has been an incredibly bullish one-way street
higher since just before Christmas. You don't see this kind of
price action unless the market is very tight," Schieldrop added.
Investors were awaiting weekly U.S. oil inventory data from the
Energy Information Administration at 10:30 a.m. (1530 GMT).
U.S. crude and distillates inventories could have fallen by 1.5
million to 1.6 million barrels last week, a Reuters poll showed.
[EIA/S]
Data from the American Petroleum Institute showed a drop in
crude, gasoline and distillate stocks last week, according to
market sources on Tuesday. [API/S]
(Additioanl reporting by Chen Aizhu and Florence TanEditing by
Mark Potter and David Goodman)
[© 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
