Crude oil prices fell by more than 1% in mid-European trading today, Tuesday, April 29. This is the second consecutive session of declines, after losing nearly 1.5% in the opening session of the week yesterday, Monday. This comes amidst the lack of clarity regarding trade negotiations, ongoing tensions, and investors lowering their expectations for oil demand growth amid anticipation of inventory figures. Brent crude is down about 1.90%, trading at $64.61 per barrel, while US crude (NYMEX) is trading at $60.95 per barrel, down about 1.77%.

Barclays Bank has lowered its forecast for Brent crude oil prices to $70 per barrel this year, compared to its previous estimate of $74 per barrel, with expectations that the supply surplus will reach 1 million barrels this year and 1.5 million barrels in 2026.

Markets are awaiting preliminary US inventory figures from the American Petroleum Institute (API) today, Tuesday, ahead of the official figures from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) tomorrow, with inventories expected to rise by approximately 500,000 barrels in the week ending April 15.