Crude prices were seen rounding up the trading week in the negative territory on Friday, as it heads for a third weekly loss and US crude supplies advanced to the highest level since November.
The North American WTI crude lost 0.59% to $98.31 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange at the time of writing. At the same time, Brent crude for May settlement eased 0.36% to $106.07 on the ICE Futures Europe exchange. The European benchmark was at $7.77 premium to WTI.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will cut crude exports to the lowest level in nearly two months as refiners from around the world are currently conducting seasonal maintenance, according to reports from Oil Movements.
OPEC is responsible for approximately 40% of global oil supplies and will cut shipments by 620,000 barrels a day to 23.74 million barrels a day in the four weeks to April 5.
Crude – Crimea
On Thursday, the US President Barack Obama imposed sanctions against individuals, officials and Bank Rossiya, which are connected to the annexation of Crimea, while Russia responded by imposing sanctions against the United States by freezing assets and visa bans.
The oilman was one of the 20 individuals added to the list banned from entering the US, with freezing any assets in the country and banned from doing business with any US companies.
The White house said that Washington has an official order which allows it to target the financial, engineering, energy, mining, metal and defense sectors.
Meanwhile the lower house of the Russian Federal Assembly approved the treaty to annex Crimea, while the upper houses are expected to vote on Friday.
US Supplies
The US crude oil stockpiles added 5.9 million barrels in the last week, reports from the American Petroleum Institute confirmed on Tuesday.
While the Energy Information Administration reports showed that crude stockpiles climbed by 5.9 million barrels, compared to the previous week’s figures of 6.2 million barrels.
Distillate fuel supplies, including heating oil and diesel, declined by 3.1 million barrels last week to 110.8 million, the lowest since May 2008. While gasoline stockpiles fell by 1.47 million barrels to 222.3 million.
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