Crude oil futures rose more than 5% on Wednesday (March 23) following reports that the Kazakhstan Pipeline Consortium (CPC) has halted oil exports due to storm damage.
- WTI crude futures were up $5.66, or 5.2% at $114.93 a barrel.
- BRENT crude futures was up $6.12, or 5.3%, at $121.60 a barrel.
According to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), Kazakh oil cannot be exported from plants on Russia’s Black Sea coast due to storm damage. CPC oil exports were completely halted yesterday (March 23) after two oil handling facilities on the Black Sea were damaged by a storm; repairs will take about a month and a half.
A third factory was not damaged, but could not be put into operation yesterday due to bad weather.
Most of the oil exported through the CPC pipeline comes from Russia, Kazakhstan, and other companies such as Chevron, and accounts for 1.2% of global oil demand.
Crude oil futures were also boosted by an EIA report showing that U.S. crude oil inventories fell by 2.5 million barrels last week.
Gasoline stocks declined by 2.9 million barrels, and distillate stocks, including fuel oil and diesel, fell by 2.1 million barrels.
The Spot Market is Open
Thursday, March 24, 2022
| Energy Updated at | USD Price | Change | %Change |
| Crude Oil 11.05 | 113.75 | -1.18 | -1.03% |