Oil prices stabilize, Brent crude below $100

Oil prices were unchanged today, July 13 after falling more than 7% yesterday, hurt by weak demand amid forecasts of a rise in US crude oil inventories.

According to recent estimates of the American Petroleum Institute (API), inventories rose by 4.8 million barrels in the week ended July 8, while investors await the release of official data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) later today, with expectations of a rise in inventories by 1.4 million barrels.

OPEC, in its monthly report issued on Tuesday, expected growth in global oil demand in 2023, which stimulates the need to provide additional 900,000 barrels by its members in 2023 to balance the market.

The EIA lowered its forecast for average oil supply to 12.8 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2023, down 1.5% from June estimate, but higher than 2022 expectation of 11.9 million bpd.

Brent crude futures for September delivery settled at $99.39 a barrel at 9:11 am Makkah time, and US crude futures for August delivery settled at $95.79 a barrel.