By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Oil was down on Thursday morning in Asia, giving up some of its sharp gains in the first half of the week. Investors weigh a higher-than-expected increase in crude oil supplies from the U.S. against tightening markets.

The price of Brent fell 0.2% to $108.56 at 12:32 PM ET (or 4:32 am GMT), and dropped 0.54% down to $103.69. The previous session ended roughly 4 percent higher for Brent and WTI, ignoring the significant buildup in U.S. supply.

Wednesday’s showed a build of 9.382 million barrels for the week ended Apr. 8. Investing.com forecasts a build in barrels of 863,000, and a build in barrels of 2.421 millions was reported the week before.

The previous day’s release showed an increase of 7.757 millions barrels.

Investor sentiment continues to be affected by concerns about a tighter market and rising prices. On Wednesday, the Russian Oil Ministry stated that 3 million barrels of Russian oil per day could be cut off by sanctions and other restrictions starting May 2022. These measures were taken in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Feb. 24, 2018.

According to Reuters, global trading companies are planning to reduce crude and fuel imports from Russia’s state oil companies by May 2022.

OANDA Senior Analyst Edward Moya stated in a note that oil prices were looking comfortable at $100 because U.S. demand is heading in the right direction.