Naveen Thakral

SINGAPORE, (Reuters) – Oil prices fell on Thursday as OPEC+ producers remained true to their plan to increase production. Meanwhile, U.S. fuel stocks grew amid falling demand.

Global benchmark futures dropped 87 cents (or 1.08%) to $79.93/barrel as of 0154 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate oil futures (WTI), lost 62cs or 0.8% to $77.23/barrel.

Tuesday’s contract peaks reached the highest point since late November.

OPEC+ is a group which includes Russia, members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers. It agreed to increase its supply by 400,000 barrels per daily (bpd), as it did each month since August.

Oil stockpiles dropped last week, while gasoline inventories jumped more than 10,000,000 barrels. It was the largest weekly gain since April 2020.

Minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting indicated that policymakers could have to raise interest rates sooner than market expectations, putting additional pressure on oil price.

U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday, while Treasury yields shot up after the minutes of the meeting were published. In order to control high inflation, the minutes indicated that the Fed may reduce its asset holdings. [MKTS/GLOB]

TC Energy (NYSE 🙂 shut down its Keystone oil pipeline of 590,000 bpd on Tuesday for “unplanned maintenance”, the company announced on Wednesday. This was in response to frigid winter temperatures across western Canada.