After experiencing a significant drop the previous day, oil prices slightly rebounded on Thursday during the Asian trading session. Investors are actively digesting reports about OPEC+ planning to further increase production in June, as well as signs of possible tariff negotiations between the U.S. and China, which have supported market sentiment.
As of 9:45 PM Eastern Time (9:45 AM Beijing Time the next day), June Brent crude oil futures rose by 0.3% to $66.33 per barrel, and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures increased by 0.2% to $61.78 per barrel. Despite both crude contracts dropping nearly 2% on Wednesday, the market is still awaiting more details about OPEC+'s supply plans, especially whether OPEC+ will continue to raise oil production.
According to a Reuters report, multiple OPEC+ countries are pushing to speed up production increases in June, potentially matching the unexpected May rise of 411,000 barrels per day. This plan is being proposed amidst growing disputes within OPEC+ over quota compliance. The report states that Saudi Arabia is dissatisfied with Kazakhstan and Iraq's overproduction and has been a major force in promoting the acceleration of production increases for May. However, not all OPEC+ members support the approach of accelerating production increases; Russia and other countries prefer to increase production gradually as originally planned to avoid further oil price drops.
Meanwhile, oil prices are also bolstered by news of possible tariff negotiations between the United States and China. The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that the Trump administration is considering lowering tariffs on Chinese imports to ease escalating trade tensions. Trump previously hinted at the possibility of trade talks with China and mentioned that a potential agreement could lead to a "significant" reduction in tariffs, although he emphasized they would not drop to zero. If tariffs are reduced, this could stimulate increased economic activity in China, and as the world's largest oil importer, a boost in demand would positively impact oil prices.
In addition, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) report showed an unexpected increase in U.S. crude oil inventories by 244,000 barrels to 443.1 million barrels for the week ended April 18, contrary to analysts' expectations of a 770,000-barrel decrease. Meanwhile, gasoline and distillate inventories were both below expectations, with gasoline inventory down 4.5 million barrels, exceeding analysts' forecast of a 1.4 million-barrel drop, and distillate inventory down 2.4 million barrels, far exceeding the expected decrease of 30,000 barrels.
Overall, oil prices are influenced by multiple factors including OPEC+ production plans, U.S.-China tariff negotiation expectations, and changes in U.S. crude oil inventories, leading to a complex and fluctuating market sentiment.
