Texas oil opens higher at $74.48

He Texas Intermediate Oil Price (WTI) It started this Thursday with a rise of 0.24%, to $74.48 per barrel.

The rise comes after two days of a lower close as investors weighed possible further interest rate hikes and worried about a possible economic slowdown.

At 9:00 a.m. local time (1:00 p.m. GMT), WTI futures for June delivery added $0.18 compared to the previous day’s close.

Hence, US benchmark oil opened higher today after falling a whopping 3.6% yesterday.

Yesterday, the International Energy Agency (IEA) announced that electric vehicles will reduce oil demand by 5 million barrels per day from 2030.

It also predicts that the share of electric vehicles in global vehicle sales will increase to approximately 14% in 2022, when the figures are known, compared to just 4% in 2020.

For its part, the Energy Information Administration reported on Wednesday that US commercial crude oil inventories fell by 5.1 million barrels during the week ended April 21.

Russia will divert 140 million tons of crude oil from Europe to Asia this year

He Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Government Aleksandar Novak, dThis year, 140 million tons of crude oil and oil derivatives will be sent to Asia, and only between 80 and 90 million tons will be delivered to Europe due to sanctions on Russian hydrocarbons.

“This year, 140 million tons of oil and derivatives will go east (to Asia). Between 80 and 90 million tons will remain for the West,” he told local media after the meeting. Board of Directors of the Moscow Energy Instituteaccording to the official TASS agency.

In 2022, Russia sent 220 million tons of crude oil and oil derivatives to Europe.

Last year, Russia already diverted about 40 million tons of its crude oil and petroleum products exports from Europe to Asia, mainly to India, China and other countries, which means 20% of the amount previously sent to the Old Continent.

Novak announced that Russia will reduce oil and gas condensate production this year by 20 million tons, to 515 million tons, compared to the 535 million tons it produced in 2022.

On December 5, the EU embargo on oil from Russia by sea came into force, a measure that coincided with the imposition of a $60 price ceiling on Russian crude oil by the EU, the G7 and Australia.

In addition, on February 5, the EU, G7 and Australia also began applying maximum prices for Russian oil products; 100 dollars per barrel for diesel and 40 dollars per barrel for other derivatives.