EL NUEVO DIARIO, NEW YORK. The price of Texas Intermediate oil (WTI) fell 3.1% this Wednesday and closed at $76.41 a barrel, after OPEC+ said it would maintain its production levels until 2023 and the United States Federal Reserve (Fed) announced that it would Raising interest rates by a quarter percentage point.
At the end of trading in New York, WTI futures contracts for March delivery were down $2.46 from the previous day’s close.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, led by Russia, on Wednesday decided to keep their production rates set last October unchanged for the whole of 2023.
In a meeting held on October 5, 2022, OPEC+ cut combined production by 2 million barrels per day (MBD) to a total of 41.85 MBD, with the aim of stabilizing crude oil prices, a level it will maintain through 2023 .
For its part, the United States’ central bank raised its interest rate even further, with a quarter percentage point increase, just as experts had predicted.
The Fed raised interest rates seven times last year in an effort to reduce inflation and slow economic growth.
In addition, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported on Wednesday that US crude inventories increased by 4.1 million barrels during the week ending Jan. 27.
This is the sixth consecutive week of inventory increases reported by the EIA.
On the other hand, natural gas futures contracts for March were down $0.21 to $2.46, and gasoline futures due for the same month fell $0.11 per gallon to $2.45.
