After three sessions of gains, crude oil prices stabilized with some declines in mid-European trading on Thursday, October 9, amid calmer geopolitical conditions after US President Donald Trump announced progress in negotiations between the Palestinian and Israeli sides to end the two-year-old war. High inventory figures also negatively impacted oil prices, with US crude (NYMEX) falling by about 0.37% to trade at $62.32 a barrel, while Brent crude traded at $66.04 a barrel, down about 0.32%.
The US Energy Information Administration report, issued yesterday, Wednesday, showed a rise in inventories of 3.7 million barrels in the week ending October 3, compared to expectations of a 700,000-barrel increase. In detail, gasoline inventories decreased by about 1.6 million barrels, while distillate inventories, which include heating fuel and diesel, decreased by about 2 million barrels. The report showed that petroleum product inventories at the Cushing, Oklahoma, facility fell by 763,000 barrels last week. Distillate stocks fell to their lowest levels since last June, while petroleum product supplies, which measure US oil consumption, rose to 21.99 million barrels, the highest level since December 2022.
US President Donald Trump’s statements that Hamas and the Israeli government had agreed to the first phase of the peace plan supported risk appetite in the markets, with concerns about an escalation in the Middle East conflict easing, and consequently, concerns about Houthi attacks in the Red Sea rising. Expectations of a deal with Iran and an increase in Iranian oil exports are rising.