Mild losses for oil in the $100 range

Oil prices edged lower in the $100 range today as U.S. data showed demand for gasoline eased while aggressive interest rate hikes kept fears of a slowdown in economic activity alive.

In particular, his most active contract Brent for September delivery, completed today’s transactions at $106.92 the barrel, recording small losses 0.4% or 43 cents.

The pressures on the prices of the American currency were slightly greater WTIwhich saw his own August contract score down 1.9% and closed at $102.26 the barrel having lost 1.96 dollars.

U.S. gasoline stockpiles unexpectedly rose last week by 3.5 million barrels, while the market expected a tepid increase of 71,000 barrels.

“Gasoline demand is anemic to say the least, as high prices clearly seem to have undermined consumer confidence,” notes John Kilduff of Again Capital LLC.

At the same time, however, as the data showed, oil reserves in the US fell by 446,000 barrels against an increase of 1.4 million barrels predicted by estimates.

In any case, however, crude oil prices continue to move with high volatility amid countervailing forces, on the one hand the persistently limited levels of supply and on the other the fears of an imminent recession due to the aggressiveness of central banks that will destroy demand.

For their part, analysts overwhelmingly believe that the price trend will likely be up, as tight supply will continue to provide support.

“With little room for OPEC+ to increase production, the oil market will struggle to rebalance in the coming months, thus providing support to prices,” notes PVM’s Stephen Brennock.

Along the same lines, according to Colin Cieszynski of SIA Wealth Management, the decline in today’s session “looks normal, a typical consolidation of recent gains”, after three bullish sessions.