But Goldman Sachs reiterated its stand that oil prices will remain volatile while being bound to a range in the coming months until inventories stopped rising. The headlines speak about nothing else. Prices lost 30 percent a year ago. The new headline is, Investors Seek Havens As Stocks, Oil Tumble.
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Prices have been extremely volatile in recent weeks on uncertainty over whether the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will stop pumping at a pace that is outstripping demand.
Crude prices dipped on Thursday as strong US gasoline demand failed to counter downward pressure from global overproduction that has left storage facilities swelling with unsold oil.
The demand for US gasoline remained 9.06 million barrels per day on February 19 in comparison with 8.6 million on January 22.
While all eyes were on Saudi Arabian oil minister Ali al-Naimi and his speech at the industry gathering IHS CERAWeek, in the US, his Iranian counterpart, Bijan Zangeneh, vehemently rejected any possibility of freezing its increasing oil output.
Russian Federation and Opec members Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Qatar announced last week a preliminary deal to freeze output at January levels, provided that other major producers followed suit.
Brent crude futures were down 45 cents, or more than 1 per cent, at $33.96 a barrel at 0950 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 35 cents at $31.80 per barrel.
Futures were little changed in NY, up 12 percent for the week. Global markets also fell as China’s central bank unexpectedly weakened the yuan, sparking concerns from investors about the state of the world’s second largest economy.
Futures had fallen as much as 3 percent, as data indicating new record highs in US crude inventories added to worries about oversupply in a slowing global economy.
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“With U.S. output in decline and more reports of production shut-ins (albeit small ones) popping up around the globe, the volumes in question as well as the broader trends are starting to matter, especially from a seasonal perspective”.
