Oil ticks higher on strong demand

Oil rose about 1% on Tuesday on high summer fuel demand while supplies remained tight because of sanctions on Russian oil after its invasion of Ukraine.

Brent crude rose 68 cents, or 0.6%, to $114.77 a barrel by 1610 GMT. The US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude contract for July, which expires on Tuesday, rose $1.34, or 1.2%, to $110.90. The more active August contract was up $1.50 at $109.09.

Both benchmarks posted a weekly loss last week. For WTI, it was the first weekly loss in eight weeks, for Brent the first in five.

“You have some people jumping in here to buy the bottom or what they hope is the bottom of the market,” said Mizuho Director of Energy Futures Robert Yawger in New York.

The 50-day simple moving average of US front-month futures touched its highest since 2008, and Brent’s touched its highest since 2013.

Prices drew support when Exxon Mobil Corp Chief Executive Darren Woods predicted three to five years of fairly tight oil markets.

Vitol head Russell Hardy flagged under-investment and a decline in production capacity for crude oil and a tight refining situation.

US crude and gasoline inventories likely fell last week, while distillate stockpiles were seen up, a preliminary Reuters poll showed.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 22^nd, 2022.

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