Oil prices continue to increase on Wednesday, as the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a decline in supply of raw materials in the United States.
To be more specific, June futures for Brent jumped by 0.72% in ICE, hitting a price of $ 64.13 per barrel. On Tuesday, it was trading around $ 63.67 per barrel.
Meanwhile, May futures for WTI rose by 0.75% in the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), reaching $ 60.63 per barrel. A day earlier, its cost was $ 60.18 per barrel.
As mentioned above, the main reason for this is the decrease in supply of raw materials in the United States. According to the API, reserves in the country fell by 3.61 million barrels over the past week, and it is projected to drop even more by approximately 2.15 million. A week earlier, it decreased by 2.62 million barrels.
Gasoline supplies also dipped, by around 200,000 barrels. Distillates, on the other hand, plunged by 700,000 barrels.
OPEC also released improved forecasts for the oil market. Apparently, the coalition believes that demand for raw materials will surge in the coming months, and this will support economic recovery amid budgetary incentives, removal of lockdowns and high rates of vaccination.
More specifically, OPEC projects demand to increase by 5.95 million bpd this year, not by 5.89 million bpd as previously assumed. Consumption itself will reach 96.46 million bpd, instead of the forecasted 96.27 million bpd.
Of course, some analysts remain skeptical and deem OPEC's forecasts to be overly optimistic.
