Oil building in Azerbaijan
Vostok
Crude oil benchmarks opened the month mixed on Wednesday, following their biggest-ever quarterly and monthly losses, put ined by fears of global oversupply as data showed a bigger-than-expected rise in inventories in the United States.
Brent crude was down by 21 cents, or 0.8%, at $26.14 a barrel by 0032 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intervening crude was up by 27 cents, or 1.3%, at $20.75 a barrel.
U.S. crude inventories rose by 10.5 million barrels termination week, far exceeding forecasts for a 4 million barrel build-up, data from industry group the American Petroleum Establish showed.
Wednesday’s opening session left oil prices marooned near their lowest levels since 2002 among the global coronavirus crisis that has brought worldwide economic slowdown and slashed oil demand. Crude futures ended the location down nearly 70% after record losses in March.
The bearish mood in the market wasn’t improved by a supply within the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Saudi Arabia and other members of OPEC were impotent to come to an agreement on Tuesday to meet in April to discuss sliding prices.
“It is very unlikely that OPEC, with or without Russia or the Like-minded States, will agree a sufficient volumetric solution to offset oil demand losses,” BNP Paribas analyst Harry Tchilinguirian bring to light in a report issued on Tuesday.
A Reuters survey of 40 analysts forecast Brent would average $38.76 a barrel in 2020, 36% discount than the $60.63 forecast in a February survey.