MOSCOW (MRC) -- Oil prices edged lower in choppy trade on Wednesday, taking a breather after gains earlier this week, as investors assessed the impact of the Omicron coronavirus variant on the global economy, reported Reuters.
The market had a muted reaction to US weekly inventory figures, which showed a smaller-than-anticipated decline in crude stocks and another bump up in overall production, giving credence to expectations that supply will increase in coming months.
Brent crude futures were down 15 cents, or 0.2%, to USD75.29 a barrel at 10:52 a.m. EDT (1552 GMT). US West Texas Intermediate crude was at USD71.94 a barrel, down 16 cents or 0.3%.
Brent crude prices have rebounded by over 9% since Dec. 1 on signs Omicron has had only a limited impact on oil demand, after a 16% drop since Nov. 25.
"Around two-thirds of the previous price slide (has) been corrected," Commerzbank said in a note.
"There has been no noticeable slowing effect on oil demand as yet. Even aviation, the sector that should have been hit first, has seen only a marginal decrease in seating capacity."
The emergence of the Omicron variant combined with the U.S. decision to release inventories from its strategic reserve to knock the market back on expectations that supply would outweigh demand by the early months of 2022.
Ultimately, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies including Russia, known as OPEC+, chose to maintain its schedule of boosting supply by 400,000 barrels per day every month - despite fears that the new coronavirus variant would sap demand.
US output, meanwhile, rose to 11.7 million barrels per day in the most recent week, though weekly output figures are volatile. The US Energy Department also said gasoline and distillate inventories rose more than anticipated, while crude stocks fell by a mere 240,000 barrels, less than expected.
As MRC informed before, US commercial crude stocks fell 3.48 million barrels to 413.96 million barrels in the week ended Sept. 17, to more than 8% below the five-year average, Energy Information Administration data showed. Stocks were last lower Oct. 5, 2018.
We remind that in late August, 2021, US crude stocks dropped sharply while petroleum products supplied by refiners hit an all-time record despite the rise in coronavirus cases nationwide, the Energy Information Administration said. Crude inventories fell by 7.2 million barrels in the week to Aug. 27 to 425.4 million barrels, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 3.1 million-barrel drop. Product supplied by refineries, a measure of demand, rose to 22.8 million barrels per day in the most recent week. That's a one-week record, and signals strength in consumption for diesel, gasoline and other fuels by consumers and exporters.
We also remind that US crude oil production is expected to fall by 160,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2021 to 11.12 million bpd, EIA said in a monthly report earlier this year, a smaller decline than its previous forecast for a drop of 210,000 bpd.
MRC