REUTERS
March futures for North Sea Brent blend slid by 0.62% to $31.20 per barrel, while February futures for WTI crude oil rose by 1.20% to $30.80 per barrel, Russian news agency Prime reported with reference to trading data as of 07:39 Kyiv time on Wednesday.
World oil prices are demonstrating diverse dynamics after a recent plunge as investors remain concerned about a global glut and data from the American Petroleum Institute (API) about the contraction of stocks in the U.S., Prime said.
Oil prices have fallen by about 70% in the past 18 months. A stronger dollar and failure to stem a global glut of supply have weighed on oil prices in recent months, while mounting concerns about China's slowing growth have magnified fears about demand from the world's second-largest economy, according to The Wall Street Journal.
A key oil benchmark plunged below $31 per barrel Tuesday, continuing the downward trend of the previous day. Brent crude traded as low as $30.64 on the market.
"The supply and demand landscape for oil continues being bearish as prices continue to take discounts," Daniel Ang, an analyst with Phillip Futures in Singapore said in a market commentary, according to Prime.
Market participants also reacted to the API data published earlier on Wednesday. The data showed a 3.9-million-barrel fall in crude supplies in the U.S. Analysts expected an increase of 2 million barrels. Now investors are expecting weekly inventory data from the U.S. Energy Information Department. U.S. commercial crude oil stocks increased 2.5 million barrels to 484.804 million barrels in the week ended January 8, according to analysts.