Oil Prices Settle Up 4% Despite Big U.S. Crude Inventory Build

• Oil prices jumped on Wednesday, as a large increase in U.S. crude inventories failed to soothe worries about tight global supply, with major oil traders expected to shun Russian barrels. 
• Brent crude settled up $4.14, or 4%, to $108.78. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures ended up $3.65, or 3.7%, to $104.25. 
• The gains came a day after both benchmarks climbed more than 6%. The oil market has swung wildly as end-users and traders have tried to quantify the disruption in Russia's daily exports following its invasion of Ukraine. Most estimates range from 1.0Mn to 3.0Mn barrels per day. 
• On Tuesday, the International Energy Agency (IEA) lowered expectations for worldwide demand and said rising global production could offset Russian oil output losses. The IEA said it expects Russian output to drop 1.5Mn bpd in April, growing to close to 3.0Mn bpd from May. 
• The White House is releasing 180.0Mn barrels from U.S. reserves over six months, part of a release of 240.0Mn barrels from members of the International Energy Agency. U.S. production is expected to keep rising from 11.8Mn bpd now to about 12.0Mn in 2022. 

(Source: Reuters)