The price of oil is nearing $94 per barrel after U.S. crude inventories fell by 2.2 million barrels last week, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Total U.S. oil supply ended the week at just 416.3 million barrels, the EIA said, 4% below the five-year average.
The crude shortage comes as members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Russia and Saudi Arabia, extend production cuts of just 1.3 million barrels a day to the end of 2023.
Crude oil storage tanks at the Cushing oil hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, March 24, 2016. (Nick Oxford / Reuters Photos)
Brent and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude prices have climbed for the last five days and touched their highest intraday trading levels of 2023 on Wednesday. Both benchmarks are now targeting their biggest quarterly jumps since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in the first quarter of 2022, according to Reuters.
The facilities of the oil refinery on the industrial site of PCK-Raffinerie GmbH in Germany. (Christophe Gateau/picture alliance via / Getty Images)
That year, oil prices shot above $100 for the first time since 2014 amid the conflict as demand recovered from COVID-19 lockdowns.
A move back above $100 for an extended time would boost revenues for members of OPEC, whose economies rely mostly on oil, while obstructing industrialized economies working to cool inflation and lower interest rates.
Meanwhile, shares of oil producers like Chevron, ExxonMobil and Occidental Petroleum have mirrored the spike in crude prices, even as the S&P 500 slipped.