Brent crude and WTI: Oil steadies as traders look through supply outages
Oil prices steadied this morning as the millions of barrels of crude stored in tankers across the world offset supply disruptions.
Brent crude, the global benchmark, rose 0.3 per cent to $43.7 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate, the US benchmark, dipped 0.2 per cent to $43.4 per barrel.
The Canadian wildfires provided temporary support to oil prices yesterday, but they subsequently slipped into the red as pessimism about the global oversupply prevailed.
"We believe that support to prices should remain short-lived. The market remains awash with oil as rising Middle Eastern output is more than offsetting declining US shale production and the various temporary disruptions," Norbert Ruecker, head of commodities research at Julius Baer, said.
Traders added that they were re-focusing on brimming US stocks, which are expected to hit records despite the disruptions from Canada, which exports most of its crude to the US, Reuters reported.