New York. The price of Texas Intermediate Oil (WTI) closed on Wednesday with a rise of 0.3% and closed the day at 89.66 dollars, after learning of a greater than estimated drop in US crude oil reserves.
According to data at the end of operations on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), WTI futures contracts for delivery in March added 0.30 dollars compared to the close of the previous session.
The reference oil traded in a limited range, pending the indirect nuclear negotiations that the US and Iran have resumed and that could lead to a lifting of sanctions with market consequences.
The price fell yesterday and at dawn due to the prospect “of a nuclear agreement between the United States and Iran that could flood the market with more than a million barrels of oil in a time of need,” explained analyst Craig Erlam, of the signs Oanda.
On the other hand, the market perceives that the military tensions between Russia and the West on the Ukraine border seem to be easing after the meeting between French President Emmanuel Macron and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Moscow on Tuesday.
However, these factors were offset by a new weekly drop in US crude inventories of 4.8 million barrels, which places inventories at 410.4 million barrels, below the average of the last five years for these dates.
The Energy Information Administration also reported declines in gasoline and distillate stocks, which are also at lower-than-usual levels.
On the other hand, natural gas contracts for delivery in the month of March fell 24 cents to $4.01 per thousand cubic feet, and gasoline contracts due the same month added 3 cents to $2.65 a gallon.
