Oil prices jump 3% on Wall Street rebound, Middle East situation
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With about two hours left in New York trade, US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil was at $75.52 per barrel, up $2.32, or 3.2%.
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Storage tanks are seen at the North Jeddah bulk plant Gas prices are displayed at a gas station in San Diego on March 8, 2022. (AP)
Oil prices rose 3% on Wednesday as a Wall Street surge, high draw figures for US petroleum, and the risk of an escalated war in the Middle East all helped a market that had just given up the majority of its gains for 2024.
With about two hours left in New York trade, US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil was at $75.52 per barrel, up $2.32, or 3.2%. WTI gained 0.4% in the previous session after falling to an almost six-month low of $71.69 on Monday.
The US crude standard is up 4.2% year to date, following a recent boom that saw it rise as high as 18% by 2024.
UK-origin Brent crude was up $2.18, or 2.9%, to $78.66 a barrel. Brent's low the previous day was $75.06, a level not seen since the week of December 29.
The global oil benchmark is up 1% year to date, following a previous rise that increased its price by about 20% in 2024.
Phil Flynn, energy analyst with Chicago's Price Futures Group said, "Stability in the stock market and the supply squeeze in oil is giving us support."
Oil was among the risk assets that soared on Wednesday, along with the US dollar and Treasury rates, as markets of varying value rallied as investors restored their risk appetite.
Most markets fell two days ago, in what some have dubbed "Black Monday 2.0" after the first Black Monday on October 19, 1987, when a worldwide stock plunge presaged one of the worst days in modern financial history.
The weekly crude decrease published by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) contributed to Wednesday's increase in oil prices.
The EIA said that crude stocks declined by 3.728 million barrels for the week ending August 2, adding to the previous week's drop of 3.426 million barrels. US petroleum stockpiles have declined by more than 30 million barrels during the last six weeks, according to an official data tabulation.
Still, last week's crude drop was an aberration in an EIA report that showed inventory rises in fuel components such as gasoline and distillates.
The EIA reported a 1.34 million barrel increase in gasoline production for the week ending August 2, following a 3.665 million barrel loss the previous week. Gasoline is the principal motor fuel in the United States and accounts for the majority of the country's energy mix.
In distillates, the agency recorded an increase of 949,000 barrels on top of the previous week's rise of 1.534 million. Distillates are generally processed into diesel for vehicles, buses, and ships, but they are also used to produce aircraft fuel.
