Oil prices were stable on Tuesday as the market awaited the Federal Reserve’s plans for rate hikes to gauge the impact on the economy and fuel demand.
Fed policy-makers said fresh inflation data out on Thursday will help them decide whether they can slow the pace of interest rate hikes at their upcoming meeting, to just a quarter point increase instead of the larger jumps they decreed for most of 2022. A weaker dollar can boost demand for oil, as dollar-denominated commodities become cheaper for holders of other currencies.
China also issued a second batch of 2023 crude import quotas, raising the total for this year by 20 per cent from last year.