Yesterday, Monday, oil achieved its largest daily rise since October, in light of easing concerns about the banking crisis, and disruptions to supplies coming from Kurdistan via Turkey.
West Texas Intermediate crude futures were trading near $73 a barrel, after jumping more than 5% on Monday. It was a legal dispute between Iraq and the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region and Turkey that stopped about 400,000 barrels per day of exports from the port of Ceyhan, narrowing the market. This coincided with optimism that the worst of the recent banking turmoil may be over.
Vandana Hari, founder of Vanda Insights in Singapore, said: The panic of the past two weeks appears to be fading, which will allow crude oil to set sail again. But she believes that the market is still suffering from uncertainty, as she said, the situation is still fragile, and I don't think anyone is 100% sure that the western banking sector is out of the way.
Oil is still on track for its fifth monthly decline, as concerns about a potential US recession and resilient Russian energy flows weighed on prices.
Most market watchers are still betting that China's recovery will accelerate and boost oil prices later this year, with one of the major Chinese producers expecting demand to pick up.
Investors will be watching comments from several Federal Reserve officials and a leading indicator of inflation in the US this week for clues on the way to tighten monetary policy. As interest rate increases add to downward pressure.
Crude prices
WTI for May delivery settled at $72.85 a barrel by 10:00 AM Singapore time.
Brent crude for the month of May fell 0.2% to $77.94 a barrel.
