Oil rises; Brent nears $84

Oil drilling rigs

Oil prices rose today, May 2, amid expectations that the United States will increase its strategic reserves of black gold, with the possibility of prices declining as a result of the monetary tightening cycle.

Brent crude was trading up 0.61% at $83.95 a barrel, at 08:30 am Makkah time. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 0.58% to $79.46 a barrel.

US Energy Information Administration data released on May 1 showed that US crude oil inventories rose by 7.3 million barrels during the week ended April 26, contrary to expectations that they would decline by 1.5 million barrels during the same period, indicating a slowdown in energy demand in the world's largest economies.

The US Federal Reserve fixed the interest rate at its meeting that ended on May 1 for the sixth time in a row. This is expected to negatively affect the pace of economic growth of the country, which would limit the growth of demand for oil, Reuters reported.

On the other hand, a survey conducted by Bloomberg showed that OPEC’s oil production remained relatively stable in April. The group pumped 26.81 million barrels per day over the past month, a slight decrease of 50,000 barrels per day, compared to March levels. This indicates that the production cuts agreed upon by member states at the beginning of the year are not yet complete.