Jakarta,-World crude oil prices began to cool to four-week lows as geopolitical pressure between Israel-Iran began to ease.

Quoting Refinitiv on Monday (22/4/2024) at 09.12 WIB, the price of Brent crude oil shrank 0.86% to US$ 86.53 per barrel. Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil fell 0.26% to US$82.92 per barrel.

The decline in oil prices is due to geopolitical concerns in the Middle East easing after Iran downplayed an Israeli attack on its territory last week and said it had no plans to respond.

However, investors continue to monitor the situation in the region as Iran is the third-largest producer in OPEC that exports most of its oil to China and other countries outside the United States (US) financial system.

Meanwhile, the US Congress passed aid packages for Ukraine and Israel that include potential sanctions on Iran and its oil production, but analysts say the measures are still subject to interpretation.

On the demand side, global economic uncertainty and concerns that the Fed will keep interest rates higher for longer weighed on the outlook.

The market is also now starting to see a chance that the Fed will only cut interest rates once this year. A further retreat from the previous forecast in June.

The latest data also showed that US crude oil inventories increased by 2.7 million barrels, almost double the 1.4 million barrel increase expected by analysts.

Sources : cnbcindonesia.com Apr 22.24