Oil Prices Hover as Investors Brace for US Tariff Impact

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Oil prices stabilized on Wednesday following a decline in the previous session, amid concerns that new U.S. tariffs, set to be announced later in the day, could escalate the global trade war and dampen crude demand.

Brent crude futures were down 2 cents to $74.47 a barrel by 0016 GMT after falling 0.4% on Tuesday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 1 cent to $71.21 after a 0.4% drop. Prices had reached a five-week high on Monday. 

The White House confirmed that President Donald Trump would announce new tariffs on Wednesday, but provided no specifics about the size or scope of the trade barriers. Trump has been promoting April 2 as "Liberation Day," which could trigger significant changes in global trade.

The drop in oil prices was somewhat offset by threats from President Trump to impose secondary tariffs on Russian oil and intensify sanctions on Iran as part of his administration's "maximum pressure" campaign. On Sunday, Trump warned of potential military action against Iran over its nuclear weapons program.

Additionally, U.S. oil fuel inventories presented a mixed outlook on supply and demand. U.S. crude oil inventories increased by 6 million barrels for the week ending March 28, according to sources from the American Petroleum Institute. However, gasoline inventories fell by 1.6 million barrels, and distillate stocks decreased by 11,000 barrels.

Official data on U.S. crude oil inventories from the Energy Information Administration is expected later on Wednesday.

Investors are also anticipating Thursday’s online meeting of OPEC+ ministers from eight countries, who are expected to approve a further increase in production from May, according to sources within the producer group.

 

 

 

Paraphrasing text from "Reuters" all rights reserved by the original author