Oil prices are falling today after climbing the previous day to the highest levels in more than two months on data on the reduction of inventories in the United States. A report by the U.S. Department of Energy released on Wednesday showed a 4.55 million barrel decline in the country’s commercial oil inventories last week to 413.3 million barrels, the lowest level since 2018.

Experts surveyed by Bloomberg had on average expected a 1.85 million barrel decline in reserves. Stocks at the terminal in Cushing, where NYMEX traded oil is stored, fell by 2.5 million barrels, in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) – by 300 thousand barrels. At the same time, oil production in the States fell by 100 thousand barrels per day (bpd) to 11.7 million bpd last week.

“Energy inventory data will be key in the first weeks of 2022 as the market looks for signals that the supply-demand balance is improving,” Schneider Electric analyst Robbie Fraser said.

March Brent crude futures on the London-based ICE Futures exchange stood at $84.43 per barrel by 8:35 Moscow time, down $0.24 (0.28%) from the previous session’s closing price. At the end of trading on Wednesday, these contracts rose by $0.95 (1.1%) – to $84.67 per barrel, the maximum since November 9.

The price of WTI oil futures for February at the electronic trading of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) amounted to $82.40 per barrel by this time, which is $0.24 (0.29%) lower than the final value of the previous session. By the close of trading on Wednesday, the value of these contracts rose by $1.42 (1.8%) to $82.64 per barrel, also the highest value since November 9.

International Energy Agency (IEA) chief Fatih Birol said on Wednesday that global oil demand was stronger than expected as the spread of the new COVID-19 strain Omicron did not significantly curtail economic activity. “Oil market sentiment remains generally constructive,” said ING Groep NV commodities analyst Warren Patterson. –

Supply disruptions, uncertainty about OPEC countries’ spare capacity, and easing concerns about the effects of Omicron are supporting the oil market.” The U.S. Department of Energy report gave it an additional boost.”