Crude oil prices settled less than half a percentage point higher on Thursday amidst two significant developments this week.
Venezuela authorized on Thursday two very large crude carriers (VLCC) to set sail for China, according to two sources familiar with Venezuela’s oil export operations, which would be only the second and third supertankers to depart since the U.S. seized a ship carrying Venezuelan oil last week, reported Reuters. The tankers are not on the U.S. sanctions list.
The price gain came a day after crude oil inventories in the United States decreased by 1.3 million barrels during the week ending December 12, after losing 1.8 million barrels in the week prior, according to new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released on Wednesday. The decrease brings commercial stockpiles to 424.4 million barrels according to government data, which is 4% below the five-year average for this time of year.
Brent crude just barely finished below $60 a barrel, rising 0.4% and settling at $59.93 a barrel.
West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. benchmark, gained 0.5% to close at $56.11 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Both prices are still expected to finish the week on Friday with weekly losses of nearly 2%. WTI has shed nearly 21% this year, its worst performance since 2018. Brent is down just under 20% and it’s had its worst year since 2020.
Natural gas finished down more than 2% on Thursday, falling $0.083 or 2.06% to settle at $3.941 MMBtu.
Oklahoma energy stocks finished mostly split for the day with Ovintiv Inc. dropping more than 4%. Devon Energy fell 3%.