WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Oil futures settled roughly flat on Thursday amid concerns about the outlook for global oil demand and on recent data showing a jump in crude oil inventories last week.
A report from JP Morgan says oil demand has been running 200,000 barrels per day below their forecast since April.
West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May settled at $82.73 a barrel, up $0.04 from the previous close.
Brent crude futures were down $0.21 at $87.08 a little while ago.
Data from U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday showed a 2.7 million-barrel jump in crude oil inventories last week. Crude inventories had surged by 5.8 million barrels a week earlier.
Somewhat easing geopolitical tensions after a lack of response from Israel of the U.S. to Iran's attack over the weekend contributed as well to subdued oil market.
Oil prices found some support thanks to renewed US sanctions on Venezuela's oil exports. The U.S. said it would not renew a license set to expire on Thursday that had broadly eased Venezuela oil sanctions, moving to reimpose punitive measures in response to President Nicolas Maduro's failure to meet his election commitments.
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