FX.co ★ Oil prices retreat from two-week highs

Oil prices have slid down on Thursday after reaching a two-week high several days ago.

At the time of writing, Brent June futures lost 1.14%, falling to $107.54 per barrel. WTI May futures decreased by 0.81%, reaching $103.41 per barrel.

Earlier, Brent futures jumped by 4% to $108.78 per barrel, while WTI future increased by 3.6% to $104.25 per barrel. Over the past two days, commodity prices have advanced by more than 10% on investor worries about the war between Russia and Ukraine and potential oil supply disruptions due to the armed conflict.

The oil markets are in a steady downtrend due to investor anxiety about global demand for the commodity, which has been on the decline recently. Outlooks for the second half of 2022 suggest it could fall even further.

The International Energy Agency has lowered its oil demand forecast by 260,000 barrels per day amid a new lockdown in Shanghai, China's main financial center.

On Thursday, traders assessed the latest US stockpile data. Over the past week, oil stocks in the United States rose by 9.38 million barrels, far surpassing a projected 1 million barrel increase.

US gasoline stocks fell by 3.6 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles decreased by 2.9 million barrels to 111.4 million barrels. Analysts predicted gasoline and distillate stocks to fall by 600,000 and 416,000 barrels respectively.

In the meantime, oil storage levels at the Cushing hub, the delivery location for the NYMEX oil futures contract, rose by 400,000 barrels over the previous week.

Experts attributed the unexpected crude oil inventory rise to a drop in US refining capability utilization rate.

This week, investors are focusing on the events in Ukraine and new sanctions against Russia, which could include restrictions against Russian oil exports. The US and the UK have already imposed a ban on Russian oil and gas imports, but the EU has not imposed such restrictions at this point.

According to IEA forecasts, Russian oil imports could decrease by up to 3 million barrels per day.