Crude oil increased in price, natural gas fell from the top

WTI Crude Oil rose by 1 percent on Thursday to about $ 103 a barrel. Natural gas prices in the US have fallen by around 15% since the beginning of the week.

Investors in the oil market may react to signals that US oil stocks fell sharply last week, and in addition, the European Union is considering banning the import of Russian oil in connection with the invasion of Ukraine and is considering ways to balance potential shortages.

China is recovering from covid restrictions

The situation on the oil market seems tense also because of the members OPEC they fight to achieve production goals. Belonging to OPEC Libya reported Wednesdaythat it loses over 550 barrels of oil per day due to blockage of major fields and export terminals.

The forecasts for demand in China also seem to weigh heavily on the oil market. The world's largest importer of this raw material is slowly easing covid restrictions and lifting the resulting restrictions on production that have hit manufacturing activities and global supply chains.

Since mid-March, the price of oil has fluctuated between $ 92,60 and $ 114. Thus, the region of USD 100-105 seems to be the middle of this fluctuation range. And only the emergence of new factors could lead to these levels being broken.

Gas: Minimal price drop after huge increase

Price fluctuations are characterized recently also natural gas market. Contracts for this commodity in the US fell from the highest level in 30 years reached at the beginning of the week - USD 8,065 per million British thermal units by about 15%, below USD 6,9. This may have been due to the warming weather forecasts and thus may discourage investors somewhat by limiting gas demand.

However, the recent decline does not change the fact that this year the value of the contract has increased by approx. 90%. What could be related to, inter alia, except that the harsh winters in some regions of North America extended into spring, bringing domestic stocks down well below the five-year average.

There was an unexpected blizzard in the Northeast earlier this week, depriving hundreds of households of electricity and increasing heating demand, which could have depleted natural gas supplies and necessitated replenishment.

Europe and China are limiting supplies from Russia

The United States is also exporting record amounts of LNG, mainly to Europe. The countries of the Old Continent are trying to give up Russian gas by imposing sanctions for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Natural gas production seems to be increasing in China. Beijing is putting pressure on state-owned producers to increase their processing capacity in order to limit the import of LNG, which in the first quarter of this year. has already dropped by 11 percent.