- Oil prices settled nearly unchanged on Wednesday as traders and investors weighed positive U.S. crude oil inventory data against Federal Reserve talks to hike rates
- Data from the EIA showed U.S. crude inventories fell 7.35 MMBbl for the week ended June 11, more than double the average expectation from Bloomberg’s survey of analysts
- Offsetting the bullish crude inventory report was the Federal Reserve’s decision to start moving toward an end of its ultra-easy monetary policy
- Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said officials would begin talks on tapering massive asset purchases while penciling in two rate hikes by the end of 2023 (Bloomberg)
- That Fed action aided a rise in the dollar, hurting crude oil prices on Wednesday afternoon
- Iran is unlikely to increase output or release stored supplies until 4Q as a return to the nuclear deal remains elusive, consultant Energy Aspects (EA) said in a report (Bloomberg)
- EA sees Iran reaching full capacity of 3.6 MMBbl/d in June 2022 rather than April 2022
- OPEC+ will only agree to increase supply at July 1 meeting if prices rapidly approach $80/Bbl
- Saudis remain cautious, but if prices near $80/Bbl it will face pressure from fellow OPEC+ leader Russia to agree on output boost, according to EA