Oil prices continued to decline on Wednesday as OPEC+ confirmed its plan to increase production in April, adding more oil to the global market and supporting lower prices, while US tariffs on trading partners raised concerns about demand.
The international benchmark Brent crude decreased by 0.05%, trading at $70.92 per barrel at 10.26 a.m. local time (0726 GMT), down from $70.96 at the close of the previous session.
The US benchmark West Texas Intermediate declined by 0.3%, settling at $67.75 per barrel, compared to its prior session close of $67.95.
On Tuesday’s trading session, Brent oil fell below $70 per barrel for the first time since October 2024, amid fears of a deepening trade war and weakening fuel consumption.
The OPEC+ group, consisting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and some non-OPEC producing countries, will gradually increase production from April.
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Kazakhstan, Iraq, Russia and Algeria curbed output by 2.2 million barrels per day.
These countries will increase production by 138,000 barrels per day next month.
While the US started to impose tariffs on Mexico and Canada, one of its most important trading partners, the country’s increase in tariffs on China, the world’s largest crude oil importer, feeds concerns in the markets that the trade war may deepen and global trade may be disrupted.
The trade war initiated by US President Donald Trump through tariffs is expected to slow economic growth in the world’s largest oil-consuming country and negatively affect fuel consumption.
Meanwhile, the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported that US commercial crude oil stocks fell by 1.45 million barrels last week compared to the previous week, surpassing the market expectation of a 300,000-barrel decrease.
The larger-than-expected decline in crude stocks supported the downward trend in oil prices, pointing to weakening demand in the US.
The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) is expected to announce the official inventory data during the day.
