Oil futures ended higher on Wednesday, as skepticism emerged over progress made a day earlier in negotiations with Russia to bring an end to the war in Ukraine, renewing worries about crude supplies in region.
Prices continued higher after U.S. government data showed a weekly decline in crude inventories, and a climb in stocks of gasoline and distillates.
price action
-
West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery
CL00,
+3.10% CL.1,
+3.10% CLK22,
+3.10%
rose $3.58, or 3.4%, to settle at $107.82 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after posting a loss of 1.6% on Tuesday. -
May Brent crude
BRN00,
-0.41% BRNK22,
-0.61% ,
the global benchmark, rose $3.22, or 2.9%, to $113.45 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe, following a 2% loss a day earlier. -
May natural gas
NGK22,
+4.47%
rose 5.2% to $5.605 per million British thermal units. -
April gasoline
RBJ22,
+3.27%
rose 3.8% to $3.325 a gallon and April heating oil
HOJ22,
+2.18%
climbed 2.5% to $3.809 a gallon.
Market drivers
Oil prices clawed back Tuesday’s losses and then some. Tuesday’s decline came as hopes over signs of progress between Russian and Ukraine negotiators drove investors out of the commodity. Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin reportedly said his country would decrease military activity in the direction of Kyiv and Chernihiv.
But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was reported as saying Wednesday that Russia hadn’t noticed anything “really promising” in those Ukraine proposals on Tuesday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. officials also cast doubt on whether any pledge to pull Russian troops back amounted to a shift. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. had…
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You can read this complete story at: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-prices-rise-as-skeptical-views-emerge-over-progress-between-russia-ukraine-talks-11648640392
