Crude prices were trading mixed on Wednesday on speculation that an Obama administration ruling on US fuel exports would have limited impact on global market. Meanwhile traders focus on US oil supplies data due later in the day and expected to show a fall amid the ongoing turmoil in Iraq, Ukraine and Libya. Futures for the US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) traded higher on Wednesday, rising 0.63% higher at $106.69 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange at the time of writing. While the European benchmark Brent crude declined 0.21% to $114.23 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange based in London at the time of writing. WTI was boosted by news that the US may ease its oil exports ban in August, according to reports from the Wall street Journal. Brent crude prices are expected to climb in the following days as the crises in Iraq continues.
US Crude Stockpiles
US crude inventories climbed 4 million barrels in the last week, according to reports released by the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday. Supplies at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for WTI; rose by 420,000 barrels. A separate report about US oil supplies expected to be released by the Energy Information Administration later in the day is expected to show a drop by 1.7 million last week, according to analysts.
Iraq
The central government forces in Iraq continue to fight the Sunni Islamist over the country’s oil refineries and airports near the capital, Baghdad. US Secretary of State John Kerry called on Iraqi leaders to support the government to fight against militants. “Whatever your aspirations are for your future, your interests now in the near-term are for a stable, sovereign and unified Iraq,” Kerry said. He also pledged intense US support and urged cooperation between Shiite and Sunni Muslims in the country. According to the Defense department, the military advisers from the US have begun assessing the crises in Iraq. Oil production in Iraq have not be disrupted by the conflict in the northern region as the country plans to increase its crude exports next month to approximately 2.5 million barrels a day in June, Oil Minister Abdul Kareem al-Luabi said in an interview.
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