|
Brent crude fell 7 cents, or 0.08%, to $87.26 a barrel by 0935
GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was unchanged at $83.26.
Both benchmarks had risen 2% on Wednesday to their highest in
more than a month as cooling U.S. inflation spurred hopes that
the U.S. Federal Reserve will stop raising interest rates.
However, minutes from the Fed's last policy meeting indicated
that banking sector stress could tip the economy into recession,
which would weaken U.S. oil demand.
"Global economic growth is fragile and inflationary pressure
could easily become elevated again," said Tamas Varga of oil
broker PVM.
The market is still reeling from the shock decision by the
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its
allies, together known as OPEC+, to increase its production cut
targets.
While the executive director of the International Energy Agency
expects the move to tighten supply in the second half of the
year and push oil prices higher, the International Monetary Fund
on Tuesday highlighted the risk this poses to global economic
expansion.
For every 10% rise in the price of oil, IMF models show a 0.1
percentage point reduction in growth and a 0.3 percentage point
increase in inflation, said IMF chief economist Pierre-Olivier
Gourinchas said.
Investors will be looking for direction from the OPEC monthly
oil market report due at 1130 GMT on Thursday.
Markets on Wednesday shrugged off a small build in U.S. crude
oil stocks, attributing it in part to a release of oil from the
U.S. emergency reserve and lower exports at the start of the
month. [EIA/S]
The Biden administration plans to refill the U.S. Strategic
Petroleum Reserve soon and hopes to do it at lower oil prices,
U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Rowena EdwardsAdditional reporting by Yuka
Obayashi in Tokyo and Jeslyn Lerh in SingaporeEditing by David
Goodman)
[© 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
