Front-month United States crude futures were trading at US$52.79 (RM201.658) per barrel at 0036 GMT, up 46 cents from their last settlement. And in case oil prices continue to fall – the naira will fall too.
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This was the biggest daily percentage since February, and more downside momentum could push it to test the six-year low of $42.03 set in mid-March, technical analysts were quoted as saying.
Oil prices remain well below their levels from June 2014 where the resource was fetching closer to US$110 to US$115 a barrel due to the massive supply and demand imbalance that exists within the market.
The prospect of a final deal has weighed on oil prices in recent months.
Appetite for riskier assets such as oil was buoyed after Chinese equities rebounded 6%, helped by Beijing’s frantic attempts to staunch a sell-off that has roiled global markets.
GasBuddy reported some stations were posting prices as low as $2.35 in Akron as and low as $2.43 in Greater Cleveland.
A crisis in Chinese stock markets that threatens to slow down that country’s economy and cut its demand for oil, increasing the global glut, and pushing down prices. The American Petroleum Institute’s supply report on Tuesday showed a 958,000-barrel decline, ahead of Wednesday’s official data.
Prices also rose ahead of an emergency summit on Greece by eurozone leaders in Brussels Tuesday, after Greek citizens overwhelmingly rejected creditors’ demands for further belt-tightening in a referendum. In respect to prices, the rising USA dollar causes oil prices to become more expensive for buyers with other currencies.
Meanwhile U.S. commercial crude stockpiles rose another 400,000 barrels to 465.8 million barrels in the week to July 3, even as refineries picked up activity.
The U.S.is expected to consume more than 9 million barrels per day of gasoline this year, the highest level in eight years, thanks to cheap fuel and higher employment, the EIA said.
Traders were also keeping a close eye on intense negotiations in Vienna between the West and Iran on curbing Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, said Gupta, the EY analyst.
Total gasoline inventories increased by 1.2 million barrels last week, according to the EIA, and remain in the upper half of the five-year average range.
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“After all, the reopening of a major oil terminal in Libya will probably see additional oil reaching the market from Libya in the next few days, further increasing the oversupply”.
