Crude oil futures were mostly steady in mid-morning Asian trade April 8, consolidating after recent heavy losses as the long-term outlook for oil prices remained bullish despite the US and IEA’s plans for a massive oil reserve release.
At 10:22 am Singapore time (0222 GMT), the ICE June Brent futures contract was down 4 cents/b (0.04%) from the previous close at $100.54/b, while the NYMEX May light sweet crude contract rose 13 cents/b (0.14%) to $96.16/b. Oil prices have shed over $10/b since the US, followed by the IEA, announced March 30 oil reserve releases totaling around 240 million barrels over the next six months. Despite the short-term pressure on prices, analysts said fundamentals remained bullish. Falling Russian oil exports, as well as inadequate supply increases from the OPEC+ group, more than made up for any added […]