Brent and WTI oil prices almost equaled above $109

On Wednesday morning, world oil prices continued to rise. At the same time, the cost of both benchmarks has almost equalized, which has not been for a long time – Brent and WTI quotes are trading above the level of $ 109 per barrel. 

The main driver of growth was increased concerns about disruptions in oil supplies due to US, EU and UK sanctions against Russia, as well as the departure of energy companies from the country. In particular, BP, Shell, Equinor, OMV, Exxon Mobil have already announced their exit from the Russian market.

The actions of the International Energy Agency cannot restrain prices either. Yesterday, the IEA countries agreed to release an additional 60 million barrels of oil from their strategic reserve to the market. However, analysts of the organization note that the risks of supply disruptions are so great that even such a large amount of released reserves will not be able to level them. 

An additional factor in the growth of oil prices was yesterday's report from the American Petroleum Institute (API), according to which commercial oil reserves in the United States decreased by 6.1 million barrels in the week to February 25. Today, we should pay attention to similar statistics from the US Department of Energy.