WTI steadies around $103.00 on renews demand-supply worries

• WTI continues to display directionless moves as cuts deepen in demand- and supply-side measures.
• The IMF has slashed the global growth forecasts to 3.6 from the previous expectation of 4.4%.
• The oil prices have shrugged off the larger-than-expected slump in the oil stockpiles.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI), futures on NYMEX, is oscillating in a narrow range of $101.63-103.21 in the Asian session as both catalysts of oil prices- demand and supply are facing headwinds. A juggernaut slump in the oil stockpiles reported by the Energy Information Association (EIA) on Wednesday failed to bring any material push in oil prices.

The political crisis in OPEC member, Libya has resulted in a loss of more than 0.55 million barrels per day of oil output. Due to blockades on export terminals and at major fields, Libya is unable to fulfill its duty of oil supply in the global market. Meanwhile, the longer-than-expected delay in a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine has renewed fears of further slippage in oil supply. Also, the European Union (EU) is progressing toward announcing an embargo on Russian oil.

On the demand front, a decent cut in global growth forecast by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has raised concerns over the demand for oil for a longer horizon. Taking into consideration Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday cut its forecast for global growth to 3.6% this year against the earlier expectation of 4.4% announced in January. Also, China’s economy is facing the Covid-19 pandemic and its unchanged Loan Prima Rate (LPR) has renewed fears of a slowdown in its economy. It will be interesting to see which side the oil prices will bend further.