Success Nwogu 
Oil prices surged about three per cent yesterday after U.S. crude stocks fell more than expected, adding to worries of supply tightness amid OPEC+ production cuts. Brent crude futures traded at $96.51 a barrel by 11:40 a.m. ET (1540 GMT) yesterday.
This is an increase of $2.55. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures (WTI) climbed $3.16 to $93.54 accord- ing Reuters. It noted that U.S. crude stocks fell by 2.2 million barrels last week to 416.3 million barrels, government data showed, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 320,000-barrel drop.
It noted thar crude stocks at the key Cushing, Oklahoma, storage hub and the delivery point for U.S. crude futures, fell by 943,000 barrels in the week to just under 22 million barrels, the lowest since July 2022, data showed. Dennis Kissler, Senior Vice President of trading at BOK Financial said: “The big news was the storage in Cushing.
And that’s causing the whole complex to rally. The biggest concern for traders is Cushing getting near multi month, operational lows. That’s a bullish force for crude prices. “The market is overbought and a correction is definitely needed.”
Stockpiles at Cushing have been falling closer to historic low levels due to strong refining and export demand, prompting concerns about the quality of the remaining oil at the hub and the potential to fall below minimum operating levels.
The drawdown in U.S. crude stocks come as Saudi Arabia and Russia – as part of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, known together as OPEC+ – have extended voluntary production cuts of 1.3 million barrels a day to the end of the year, worrying markets about supply tightness heading into winter.
