Oil prices slipped on Thursday in thin trade ahead of a public holiday, as traders weighed a larger-than-expected build in U.S. oil stocks against tightening global supply.
Both contracts on Wednesday had shrugged off a build in U.S. crude inventories to end the trading session roughly 4 per cent higher. The International Energy Agency on Wednesday warned that from May onwards roughly 3 million barrels per day of Russian oil could be shut-in due to sanctions or voluntary embargoes.
The probability of a EU ban on Russian oil being agreed may be almost zero, but no one will be able or wanting to say that clearly, Vandana Hari, founder of oil market analysis provider Vanda Insights said.Despite signals that global supply disruption will persist, oil stocks in the U.S. rose by more than 9 million barrels last week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday, driven in part by releases from the nation’s strategic reserves.
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