Oil prices are changing weakly and multidirectionally during the morning trading on Wednesday after a moderate decline the day before. Traders are waiting for official data on fuel reserves in the United States and assessing the balance of supply and demand in the global market.

As the American Petroleum Institute (API) data published overnight showed, oil inventories in the United States rose by 1.1 million barrels in the week ended April 1. Analysts polled by Trading Economics had on average expected a 2.06 million barrel decline.

Official data from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration will be released Wednesday at 17:30 Moscow time. Experts surveyed by S&P Global Commodity Insights forecast that the report of the Ministry of Energy will indicate a decrease in oil reserves by 1.85 million barrels. Analysts also expect a reduction in gasoline reserves by 350 thousand barrels, distillates – by 700 thousand barrels.

Meanwhile, the day before the Chairman of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen announced proposals for new sanctions against Russia. In particular, the EU may impose a complete ban on transactions with four key Russian banks, including VTB (MCX:VTBR), and a ban on coal imports from Russia worth €4 billion a year.

So far, the restrictive measures have not affected oil and gas, which has eased fears of worsening energy shortages in global markets.

The cost of June futures for Brent on the London-based ICE Futures exchange by 8:23 Moscow time on Thursday is $106.86 per barrel, which is $0.22 (0.21%) higher than the price at the close of the previous session. At the end of trading on Tuesday, these contracts fell by $0.89 to $106.64 per barrel.

The price of WTI crude oil futures for May at the electronic trading of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) by this time decreased by $0.07 (0.07%) – to $101.89 per barrel. On Tuesday, the cost of these contracts fell by $1.32, to $101.96 per barrel.