Oil rallies with fuel supply shortage headed into summer
BNN Bloomberg
Oil swung between gains and losses after an agency report highlighted the shortage in refined products while financial markets were pressured by stubbornly high US inflation.
West Texas Intermediate rose to near US$107 a barrel after whipsawing this week with lower liquidity exacerbating wild moves. On Thursday the International Energy Agency said that there is currently an “almost universal product shortage” and low Russian exports are worsening the tightness. This comes as US retail gasoline and diesel prices rose to a record on Wednesday ahead of the nation’s summer driving season.
Oil markets are also wrestling with the ever-changing outlook for China’s virus lockdowns and uncertainty about the European Union’s proposed ban on Russian oil imports, stockpiles of refined fuels are continuing to decline.