Investing.com–Oil prices rose slightly Thursday, bouncing to a degree after the recent downturn as traders braced for higher US production and possible disruption to trade under the new Trump administration.
At 08:20 ET (13:20 GMT), Brent oil futures expiring in March rose 0.1% to $79.07 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate crude futures climbed 0.1% to $75.47 a barrel.
Crude prices tumbled from a near six-month high in the past week, as uncertainty over Trump’s energy and trade policies weighed. The signing of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas also sapped some risk premium from crude.
Trump energy, trade policies in focus
The return of Donald Trump to the White House has been a major weight on oil prices this week, as the 47th US President declared a national energy emergency and vowed to sharply ramp up energy production in the coming months.
Trump called for higher oil production, while also walking back several climate-related curbs on the energy industry, in a likely bid to bring down energy prices and keep inflation in check.
Higher US production – which already averaged at record highs of 13 million barrels per day in 2024 – is likely to further loosen oil supplies, offsetting lower output in other parts of the world, especially the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Trump’s trade policies were also a point of concern, given he has threatened to impose tariffs on several major economies, mainly China, Canada, and Mexico.
Any more economic pressure on China, the world’s biggest oil importer, is expected to further stymie its appetite for crude.
Trump has also said he would add new tariffs to his sanctions threat against Russia if the country does not make a deal to end its war in Ukraine.
Ukraine praised him for threatening to impose more sanctions on Russia, as Kyiv has long urged its allies to impose tougher sanctions on Moscow to raise the costs of the war for Moscow and to discourage it from undertaking any further aggression.
US inventories seen increasing after 5 weeks of draws – API
Data from the American Petroleum Institute showed on Wednesday that US inventories grew 1 million barrels in the week to January 17, after five straight weeks of draws.
The API data usually heralds a similar trend from official inventory data, which is due later on Thursday.
A Reuters poll showed that analysts expect oil inventories to have shrunk last week, but product inventories likely increased.
Cold weather in the U.S. spurred increased demand for heating, while also disrupting crude production in the Gulf of Mexico. But it also disrupted travel in large swathes of the country, especially during the year-end holiday season.
(Ambar Warrick contributed to this article.)
This post is originally published on INVESTING.
