FX.co ★ Crude Oil Drops After Surging On Russian Gas-halt News

Crude oil prices retreated, after surging upon news that Russian gas company Gazprom was halting gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria for rejecting its demand to pay in Russian rubles. Though Russia's toughest retaliation till date for the West-led sanctions, following its invasion of Ukraine caused oil prices to spike, the demand concerns triggered by the lockdown in China limited gains and even sent the two key futures benchmarks to negative territory.

Brent Oil Futures for July settlement is currently trading at $103.03, down 1.51 percent from Tuesday's close of $104.61. The day's trade ranged between a high of $105.97 and a low of $103.02.

West Texas Intermediate crude for June settlement on Wednesday traded between a high of $102.94 and a low of $99.83. It is currently trading at $99.83, having dropped 1.84 percent from Tuesday's close of $101.70.

Natural Gas Futures for June settlement however surged 2.51 percent to $7.153, versus the previous close of $6.978.

Data released from The American Petroleum Institute earlier in the day showed stocks of crude oil in the U.S. surging to 4.8 million barrels in the week ended April 22 versus a 4.5-million-barrel slump in the previous week.

Data from the U.S. Energy Information Agency expected later in the day sees a 2-million-barrel increase during the same period, versus the 8 million barrels drop in the previous week.