In the fourth month of heightened tensions in the Middle East, Israel initiated lethal air strikes on Lebanon in response to the death of an Israeli soldier.
Meanwhile, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine entered its third year with no definitive resolution in sight.
Throughout the previous week, as the Chinese New Year holiday approached, markets in East Asia maintained a relatively stable condition. Additionally, recent data from China’s customs agency revealed that in 2023, Russia surpassed Saudi Arabia to become China’s primary oil supplier. Iran also decreased its crude oil exports to China during this period.
On Wednesday, February 14th, the WTI price dropped following news of a remarkable surge in U.S. crude oil stockpiles.
Reports indicate that crude oil reserves ballooned to 8.52 million barrels by the week ending on February 9th, a figure significantly surpassing Reuters’ estimate of 2.6 million barrels.
Suvro Sarkar, DBS Bank’s senior vice president of the energy sector, suggests that America’s greater-than-anticipated oil storage capacity has halted the upward trend in prices.
