World oil prices end 3-day price increase streak
According to a survey at 10:44 a.m. on February 12 (Vietnam time), WTI oil price decreased by 0.30 USD/barrel (0.41%), down to 73.02 USD/barrel. Brent oil price also decreased by 0.26 USD/barrel (0.34%), down to 76.74 USD/barrel.
Oil prices fell on Wednesday as an industry report showing a rise in U.S. crude inventories, along with concerns about tariffs, weighed on market sentiment, erasing three days of gains linked to rising tensions in the Middle East and tightening sanctions, Reuters reported.
The decline ended a three-day winning streak, in which Brent rose 3.6% and WTI rose 3.7%.
Crude oil inventories in the United States, the world's largest oil producer and consumer, rose by 9.4 million barrels in the week ended February 7, according to the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday.
Gasoline stocks fell 2.51 million barrels and distillate stocks fell 590,000 barrels, API data showed.
A Reuters poll on Tuesday showed experts expect U.S. crude and gasoline inventories to have risen last week, while distillate inventories likely fell.
Data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) is due later Wednesday.
The EIA has revised up its estimate for U.S. crude oil production while keeping its demand forecast unchanged. EIA now expects U.S. crude oil production to average 13.59 million barrels per day in 2025, up from its previous estimate of 13.55 million barrels per day.
Oil prices also fell on concerns that more tariffs imposed or threatened by the United States will curb global economic growth and energy demand.
However, supply concerns have been limited. Warnings from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump that the Gaza ceasefire would end if Hamas did not release Israeli hostages have raised fears of a return to violence that could destabilize the Middle East, a key oil-producing region.
The tensions helped send oil prices up more than 1% on Tuesday, with US sanctions disrupting oil flows from Russia to China and India, along with Trump's "maximum pressure" campaign on Iranian oil.
Gasoline prices may decrease slightly
Regarding domestic gasoline prices, Mr. Doan Tien Quyet, a data analysis expert at VPI, said that the gasoline price forecasting model using the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model and the supervised learning algorithm in VPI's Machine Learning forecast that the retail price of E5 RON 92 gasoline may decrease by 0.7% to VND 20,307/liter, while RON 95-III gasoline may decrease by 0.8% to VND 20,763/liter.
VPI's model also forecasts that retail oil prices this period will tend to decrease, in which diesel may decrease by 1.5% to VND 18,770/liter, kerosene may decrease by 1.2% to VND 19,181/liter, and fuel oil may decrease by 1.3% to VND 17,584/kg.VPI forecasts that the Ministry of Finance and Industry and Trade will continue not to set aside or use the Petroleum Price Stabilization Fund this time.
In the 6.2 adjustment period, the price of E5 RON 92 gasoline increased by 51 VND/liter to 20,442 VND/liter, while RON 95-III gasoline decreased by 74 VND/liter to 20,928 VND/liter.
Prices of petroleum products also decreased simultaneously. Of which, diesel 0.05S is priced at 19,054 VND/liter (down 192 VND/liter); kerosene has a new price of 19,414 VND/liter (down 25 VND/liter); mazut is priced at 17,354 VND/kg (down 148 VND/kg).
