There was a slight change in the prices of oil on Wednesday after days of decline due to slow demand from Europe as supply disruptions continue in the Middle East as there is no end in sight to the Israel-Hamas conflict in the Gaza Strip.
Brent crude futures rose 6 cents to $88.13 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 1 cent to $83.75 a barrel.
Eurozone activity data fell unexpectedly this month, suggesting the region may be in recession, which could hurt oil demand forecasts.
Euroilstock said refiners in the region were generally using less crude than a year ago because of the slowdown in economic growth.
The countries are calling for a temporary ceasefire or truce between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip to allow humanitarian aid to be flown to besieged Palestinian civilians.
The leaders of the United States and Saudi Arabia discussed on Tuesday the necessary measures to prevent the conflict from spreading to Iran, a major producer.
“Oil’s pullback has coincided with disappointingly soft softer European PMIs, suggesting at least some softening from the demand side, rather than being wholly attributable to war-related supply disruption threats being assuaged,” said Vishnu Varathan, head of economics and strategy at Mizuho Bank, in a note.
“It’s certainly not sufficiently so to declare with any confidence that the geopolitical risk premium associated with the Israel-Hamas conflict has meaningfully and durably dissipated,” Varathan said.
Crude oil prices could get some support after the top parliament of China, the world’s biggest oil importer, approved a bill that will allow it to issue 1 trillion yuan ($137 billion) in government bonds and issue new debt in 2024 quotas.
Falling crude stockpiles in the United States, the world’s biggest oil consumer, also supported prices.
U.S. inventories fell by about 2.7 million barrels in the week ended October 20, according to market sources citing data from the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday.
That contradicted eight analysts who said crude inventories rose an average of 200,000 barrels this week, according to Reuters.
API data showed that gasoline stocks fell by 4.2 million barrels, while distillate stocks fell by about 2.3 million barrels.
US government funding data is expected to be released on Wednesday.
