Exchange prices for U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil declined for the second week in a row. Commodity quotations on leading trading floors reached the level of $76 a barrel amid worsening demand forecasts, Bloomberg news agency reported.

“Exchange-traded WTI crude oil prices fell for the second week in a row, despite higher macro prices. WTI traded above $76 a barrel <….> Oil largely tracked broader market trends this week as many traders avoided opening large positions in anticipation of the next decision by U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) guidance,” the story said.

The fall in U.S. oil prices comes amid accelerating inflation in the U.S. It is expected that the Fed leadership will continue to pursue the course of increasing the key rate at the next meeting; the final decision should be announced on May 3. Also, the decline in commodity prices is also affected by the relatively slow pace of economic recovery in China, which undermines global demand for oil and other energy resources, as concluded in the article.

On April 28, Bloomberg reported that a lot of Asian and European refineries are incurring significant losses because they refused to buy Russian oil. Due to international sanctions on Russian raw materials, companies are buying oil from the Middle East at higher prices, which affected the profits from the sale of oil products on the negative side.

Earlier we reported that the number of oil and gas drilling rigs in the US increased for the first time in a month.