The intermediate oil price of Texas (WTI) opened this Wednesday, April 21, 2021 with a decrease of 2.51%, to USD 61.10 a barrel, amid fears of a weekly increase in the reserves of the United States and the worsening pandemic in India.
At 08:30, WTI futures contracts for delivery in June, the new reference month, were $ 1.57 off the close of the previous session. Benchmark crude in the US fell after the American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that last week there was an increase in crude inventories of 436,000 barrels when analysts expected a fall of 3 million.
In the absence of official data from the Energy Information Administration, the markets were operating pessimistically about the situation in India, the third-largest consumer of crude in the world, which recorded records of infections and deaths from covid-19 this Tuesday.
“Oil demand fears rightly persist. With the global COVID-19 case count at an all-time high this month, many countries are again turning to no-travel policies, hurting international aviation demand in the short run. deadline “, explained Louise Dickson, Rystad Energy, On the other hand, the experts pointed to the” surprise “of yesterday regarding energy legislation in the USA as a reason for the decrease in prices.
“The US gave oil another surprise yesterday. A House panel passed a bill challenging OPEC cooperation to cut production and keep prices high,” added Dickson, who nonetheless believes that it will not have a long journey.
