Crude prices were seen trading lower on Friday, but holding on to its highest in a month amid the ongoing crises in Ukraine as talks over the tension between the country and Russia and gas supplies are expected to be held. Crude exports from Libya are expected to resume within the next five days.
The North American West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for May delivery edged 0.33% lower to $103.07 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange at the time of writing, while Brent crude for May settlement dropped 0.24% to $107.21 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange at the same time. The European benchmark Brent crude was at a premium of $4.13 to WTI.
Crude – Ukraine Crises
As the ongoing talks between Russia and the Ukrainian central government continues, investors worry over Russia’s gas disruption threat.
In a letter sent to the European leaders, the Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that the increasing debt of Ukraine’s gas threatened supplies to Europe. Gazprom considered forcing Ukraine to pay for gas supplies in advance, however Ukraine refused to pay nearly double the price for the commodity, according to reports.
Libya
In Libya, oil exports from one of the eastern ports are expected to begin within the next five days, Ibrahim Al Awami, the oil ministry measurement director said on Thursday. Approximately 1 million barrels is expected to be loaded by next week, the terminal can handle approximately 8.5% of the country’s export capacity of 1.3 million.
On Thursday, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said its production fell by more than half a million barrels a day in March to 29.6 million barrels a day.
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