- WTI for June delivery fell 0.2% to $61.28 a barrel as of 8:54 a.m. in New York
- Brent for the same month declined 0.3% to $65.18
The market has been torn between divergent demand indicators this month, pushing West Texas Intermediate into weekly swings between gains and losses. Latest data showed robust manufacturing figures in Europe, though India continues to set a record number of daily cases. The country’s diesel and gasoline consumption could fall by a fifth this month, and traders said the nation’s largest refiner had refrained from buying West African oil this week, defying expectations.
Oil is more than 25% higher this year, aided by the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines and vigilant supply management from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies. But the bulk of crude’s advance came in the first two months of the year, and prices have struggled since. OPEC+ is set to start easing deep supply curbs from May, and the group is expected to hold a full ministerial meeting next week to assess the global state of play.
“Oil prices have been fairly steady this week given the circumstances with a lot of factors pulling in different directions,” said Jens Pedersen, a senior analyst at Danske Bank. Prices have been pulled between U.S. supply, a weaker dollar and the potential lifting of sanctions in Iran, he said.
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