Oil prices were mixed on Wednesday, the 9th of March. At the time of market closure, Brent Crude Oil Spot Price was of USD $ 114.93 a barrel, slightly above its previous day’s price of USD $ 112.41 a barrel. The price of West Texas Sour, Midlands Oil was of USD $ 100.73 a barrel, down from its previous price of USD $ 100.73 a barrel. The fall in WTI price was because of date released by industry insiders, which suggested that US crude oil stocks at the storage facilities in Crushing, Oklahoma increased, which helped in slightly easing fears about shortage in oil supplies.
The uncertainty prevailing in the market was due to unconfirmed reports from a senior Saudi Oil Minister, stating that OPEC is producing more than 2.5 million barrels a day over its aggregate quota of 25 million barrels a day in order to keep the oil prices under control due to the loss in oil supply from Libya. At the same time, the cartel stated that it saw no reason to hold an emergency meeting to raise output, something which it had suggested on Tuesday it might hold in the near future. The authenticity of Saudi Arabia’s claims could not be verified, which was causing investors to remain cautiously optimistic about claims of sufficient oil supplies in the market. Furthermore, violence in Libya escalated even further, with pro-government forces damaging oil infrastructure in the city of Zawiyah, which is under the control of the rebels. Due to the volatile situation in the Middle East, with fears about unrest spreading to major oil producers like Angola or Saudi Arabia doing the rounds, no one can predict for certain the oil price in the coming days.