MW Oil snaps 4-day losing streak but remains stuck below $70 a barrel

By William Watts

Oil futures finished with small gains Thursday, snapping a four-day losing streak after ending the previous session at nearly six-month lows on fears global trade tensions will undercut demand and as traders prepare for an increase in supply from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies next month.

Price moves

-- West Texas Intermediate crude CL00 for April delivery CL.1 CLJ25 rose 5 cents, or 0.1%, to close at $66.36 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

-- May Brent crude BRN00 BRNK25, the global benchmark, settled at $69.46 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe, up 16 cents, or 0.2%.

-- Back on Nymex, April gasoline RBJ25 fell 1.7% to $2.1012 a gallon, while April heating oil HOJ25 shed 0.8% to finish at $2.2238 a gallon.

-- April natural gas NGJ25 dropped 3.3% to end at $4.302 per million British thermal units.

Market drivers

WTI and Brent consolidated Thursday, snapping a four-day losing streak that saw them end the previous session at their lowest since Sept. 10.

Oil has been weighed down by fears that President Donald Trump's aggressive tariff measures will spark a global trade war. Also, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, together known as OPEC+, announced earlier this week that they would proceed with plans to begin unwinding production curbs in April, which is also weighing on prices. Analysts had widely expected a further delay.

"The recent confirmation from OPEC+ that it intends to go ahead with the plans to gradually increase oil production from April has coincided with ongoing signs of weakness in global oil demand," Lily Millard, an economist at Capital Economics, said in a note. "Although OPEC+ has given itself plenty of wiggle room to change its mind again in the future, the downside risks to our already below-consensus end-2026 oil price forecast are building."

Capital Economics expects Brent to end 2026 at $60 a barrel.

-William Watts

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March 06, 2025 15:22 ET (20:22 GMT)

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