Demand for Energy Ticks Up at World’s Biggest Economy

At the time of writing this report, the British based oil contract Brent crude futures broke past $75 a barrel while the West Texas Intermediate futures soared past $73 a barrel. Both major oil benchmarks are up by more than 0.4% for the day.

Recent data collated from the American Petroleum Institute revealed the inventories at the world’s biggest economy dropped by about 7.2 million barrels for the week ending June 18. Experts had earlier predicted a decent drop of about 3.63 million barrels, triggering Brent crude bulls to head toward the next main target at $76 a barrel as energy demand gathers momentum.

Oil traders would affirm such bias from the U.S Energy Information Administration, due later in the day, with demand for fuel going north in key emerged markets including the United States and China on continued economic recovery from COVID19.

Broader market sentiments show a number of oil traders are hoping for a positive outcome of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+) meeting scheduled to hold next week for insights on their crude oil output strategy.

On the supply end, the oil cartel group, due to meet next week to discuss its output quota, with Russia and some OPEC+ members considering a potential supply hike in August, though supply/demand imbalance should support a continued bullish trend in oil prices.

The most recent forecast on the black viscous hydrocarbon suggests that Brent oil could hit $100 per barrel in 2022 as pent-up oil demand gets unleashed on a post-COVID-19 world.