DTN Oil Update
Oil Futures Rise on Possible Ceasefire Agreement From Russia
HOUSTON (DTN) -- Crude oil futures settled higher to close the week on Friday, driven by news of a possible ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war, under certain conditions, while concerns of the impact of tariffs keeps weighing in market sentiment.
The front-month NYMEX WTI futures contract edged up by $0.58 to $67.13 bbl while the ICE Brent futures contract for May delivery increased by $0.63 to $70.51 bbl. April RBOB futures contract fell by $0.0035 to $2.1657 gallon and April ULSD futures climbed by $0.0131 to $2.1462 gallon.
The U.S. Dollar Index continued its downward trend by dropping 0.12% to 103.7 against a basket of foreign currencies.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that he agrees, in principle, for a 30-day ceasefire with Ukraine, but he emphasized that he would have to discuss this first with the Trump administration. The oil futures market responded positively to this announcement, even though stricter sanctions on Russian oil trade, imposed by the administration of President Joe Biden, remain in place.
However, expectations of abundant global supplies continue setting the bearish tone in the market, which has been further supported in recent weeks by the uncertainty generated by tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on imported goods from China, Canada and Mexico.
Ample supplies and weak demand have been confirmed by Energy Information Administration and the American Petroleum Institute data showing a build in U.S. crude inventories for the week ended March 7.
The EIA reported commercial crude oil inventories rose by 1.4 million bbl to 435.2 million bbl last week, lower than the 4.247 million bbl build reported by API for the same week.
