Oil mixed over clashing fears of tight supply and global recession

Oil prices were mixed on Friday as demand fears spurred by recession expectations and rising US crude oil inventories capped price declines.

International benchmark Brent crude was trading at $104.98 per barrel at 09.45 a.m. local time (0645 GMT) for a 0.31% increase after the previous session closed at $104.65 a barrel.

American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was at $102.52 per barrel at the same time on Friday for a 0.20% loss, after the previous session closed at $102.73 a barrel.

Exerting downward price pressure, economic uncertainties driven by global recession fears are growing. As a result, investor risk appetite is falling, and according to the rating agency Fitch, this is spurring eventual stagflation characterized by persistent high inflation, high unemployment and weak demand.

However, tight supply worries continue to pose an upward price risk, as Western bans on Russian oil and gas and investor self-sanctioning triggers supply disruptions at a time when OPEC+ countries are failing to meet expected supply output.

The rise in US fuel stockpiles last week also provoked negative demand sentiment.

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) announced Wednesday that the country’s crude oil inventories rose by 8.2 million barrels to 423.8 million barrels during the week ending July 1.

Gasoline inventories, however, decreased by 2.5 million barrels to 219.1 million barrels over the same period.