Oil prices showed little change on Wednesday after three consecutive sessions of declines, as a tariff agreement between the United States and Japan boosted global trade confidence.
اضافة اعلان
By 06:54 GMT, Brent crude futures dipped by 2 cents (0.03%) to $68.57 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell by the same margin to $65.29 per barrel.
Both benchmarks had dropped by about 1% in the previous session after the European Commission said it was considering countermeasures in response to U.S. tariffs, dashing hopes for a deal before August 1.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that Washington and Tokyo had reached a trade agreement imposing a 15% tariff on Japanese imports, in return for Japan committing to invest $550 billion in the United States.
Market attention is now turning to the EU–China summit scheduled for Thursday, which will test the EU's unified stance amid escalating trade tensions with both Beijing and Washington.
Vandana Hari, founder of Vanda Insights, remarked:
“The recent price slump appears to have halted, but I don’t expect the U.S.–Japan agreement to offer much bullish momentum, as ongoing delays and obstacles in negotiations with the EU and China will continue to weigh on market sentiment.”
Meanwhile, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce reported that the Chinese Trade Minister and the EU Trade Commissioner held “frank and in-depth discussions” on economic cooperation and other issues ahead of the summit.
On the supply side, market sources citing data from the American Petroleum Institute (API) indicated that U.S. crude oil and gasoline inventories fell last week, while distillate stocks rose by 3.48 million barrels.
ING Research noted in a memo:
“This offers some relief to the tight middle distillate market,” adding that the decline in crude inventories would support prices despite expectations of a large surplus later this year.
In a separate development, U.S. Energy Secretary stated Tuesday that the U.S. may consider sanctions on Russian oil to help end the war in Ukraine.
The European Union recently passed its 18th sanctions package against Russia, including a lower price cap on Russian oil. However, analysts warned that lack of U.S. participation could undermine the effectiveness of those measures, according to Reuters.
