Shafaq News/ Oil prices steadied in thin trading on Wednesday afterfalling in the previous session on concerns that new U.S. tariffs, set to beunveiled at 2000 GMT, may deepen a global trade war that could limit crudedemand.
Brent futures gained 1 cent to $74.50 a barrel by 0346 GMT afterslipping 0.4% on Tuesday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 3cents to $71.23 after dropping 0.4%. Prices settled at their highest in fiveweeks on Monday.
The White House confirmed on Tuesday that President Donald Trump willimpose new tariffs on Wednesday, though it provided no details about the sizeand scope of the trade barriers.
"Oil prices increased nearly 2% in March but have remained steadysince as markets await clarity on Trump's universal tariff plans ahead of'Liberation Day.' The thin trading volumes in the oil market indicate risingconcerns about these tariffs, despite some positive demand signals frommainland China," said Phillip Nova's senior market analyst PriyankaSachdeva.
At 0353 GMT, Brent trading volumes were at 8,550 lots for June, comparedwith 672,617 lots of open interest for the same month, ICE data on the LSEGpricing platform showed.
For weeks, Trump has touted April 2 as "Liberation Day," whichwould bring new duties that could rattle the global trade system.
The White House announcement is scheduled for 4 p.m. ET (2000 GMT).
"The (tariff) announcement could impact prices either to the upsideor the down, although the balance of risk lies to the downside, given thatweaker-than-expected tariff measures are unlikely to drive a significant rallyin Brent, while stronger-than-expected measures could trigger a substantialselloff," BMI analysts said in a note.
The declines were offset by threats by Trump to impose secondary tariffson Russian oil, and as he ramped up sanctions on Iran on Monday as part of hisadministration's "maximum pressure" campaign to cut its exports.
"Should the tariff pressures prove successful for Trump and enablea Russia-Ukraine ceasefire, there is a scenario where these punitive measurescould be short-lived, with tariffs potentially bullish for crude oil andbearish for products," said Rystad Energy's vice president of commoditymarkets, Janiv Shah.
"So far, oil prices have remained muted, awaiting an officialreaction from major importing nations on the newly proposed tariffs."
U.S. oil and fuel inventories painted a mixed picture about supply anddemand in the world's biggest producer and consumer.
U.S. crude oil inventories rose by 6 million barrels in the week endedMarch 28, according to sources, citing the American Petroleum Institute.Gasoline inventories, however, fell by 1.6 million barrels and distillatestocks fell by 11,000 barrels, the sources said.
Official U.S. crude oil inventory data from the Energy InformationAdministration are due later on Wednesday.
(Reuters)