Oil prices fall sharply after recent steep rallies
0 Comment(s)
Print
E-mail Xinhua, March 10, 2022
Oil prices tumbled on Wednesday, giving up some of the strong gains they had secured recently on supply fears.
The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for April delivery lost 15 U.S. dollars, or 12.1 percent, to settle at 108.70 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for May delivery decreased 16.84 dollars, or 13.2 percent, to close at 111.14 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
Oil prices had soared recently, with both the WTI and Brent on Tuesday notching their highest finish in nearly 14 years, as the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict prompted fears about energy supply disruptions from key exporter Russia.
On Tuesday, the United States announced a ban on the import of Russian oil, and Britain said it would phase out imports of Russian oil by the end of 2022, the first time Russia's commodity exports have been directly targeted by sanctions.
The European Union also unveiled a plan to reduce its dependency on Russian fossil fuels.
"Even before the move, however, Russian energy exports had already been disrupted due to self-sanctioning by buyers of Russian crude on concerns over future sanctions or reputational risks," analysts at UBS said in a note on Wednesday.
"Seeking quick alternative sources to Russian supply is challenging," in view of the country's key role in oil production and oil exports, they said.
Traders also parsed U.S. fuel stockpiles data.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported Wednesday that the nation's crude oil inventories decreased by 1.9 million barrels in the week ending March 4. Analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts had estimated the U.S. crude supplies to show a fall of 0.7 million barrels.
Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)