Oil: an overview of the market situation

The price of oil fell moderately today , as tensions in Ukraine there were signs of weakness , but the crisis in Libya and the jump in Chinese oil imports to a record kept prices .

On the eve of Russian President Vladimir Putin has urged supporters of the federalization of the South-East of Ukraine to postpone the scheduled referendum on May 11 and announced the withdrawal of troops from the border with Ukraine territories.

Meanwhile , the Chinese report showed : in April the total imports of crude oil to China amounted to 27.88 million tons , which corresponds to 6.8 million barrels per day. Daily volume of imports reached a record high , surpassing the previous highest value reached in January , when the country imported about 6.7 million barrels a day . In January, the total volume of crude oil imports in the PRC amounted to 28.16 tons, a record high monthly index.

Meanwhile, according to estimates Wall Street Journal, in April, the volume of oil imports to China increased by 20.8 % to 23.08 million tons of crude oil import figure in April 2013 . At the same time the growth rate since March of this year amounted to approximately 18.5% to 23.52 million tons. According to the published data, the total volume of oil imports to China in April 2014 amounted to 2.54 million tons, and the total volume of their exports amounted to 2.2 million tons.

Higher oil prices also contributed to the statement occupied ports rebels in Libya that they intend to keep until the two largest export terminal closed .

Market participants also continued to assess yesterday's inventory data . According to the U.S. Department of Energy , oil inventories in the country fell last week by 1.78 million barrels, while analysts had expected growth of 1.25 million barrels.

June futures on U.S. light crude oil WTI (Light Sweet Crude Oil) fell to $ 100.06 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX).

June futures price for North Sea Brent crude oil mixture fell $ 0.34 to $ 107.69 a barrel on the London exchange ICE Futures Europe.