Oil steadied after gains as an industry report flagged another build in US crude stockpiles, and uncertainty over global supplies lingered.

West Texas Intermediate traded near $72 a barrel after rising about 2% so far this week, while Brent crude closed above $76. The industry-funded American Petroleum Institute reported a 3.3 million barrel increase in US commercial inventories last week, which would be the fourth week of builds if confirmed by official data later on Thursday.

Crude has risend this week on concerns about tighter supply, as OPEC+ looks set to push back a production increase, exports from Kazakhstan were cut by a Ukrainian drone strike, and the Group of Seven nations mulled a tighter price cap on Russian oil. However, trading has calmed after a tumultuous start to the year, with a gauge of implied volatility declining as the market becomes increasingly numb to the array of changes that US President Donald Trump is seeking to implement.

Elsewhere, exports from Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan could resume this week, although Turkey said it has yet to receive notification of a resumption in flows to its Ceyhan energy hub. 

Meanwhile, Trump called his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy a dictator, compounding fears that a deal to end the three-year-old war with Russia will be reached without Kyiv’s involvement. Any peace agreement could impact the status of currently-sanctioned barrels from Russia.

Prices:

  • WTI for March delivery, which expires Thursday, slipped 0.1% to $72.18 a barrel at 8:22 a.m. in Singapore. The more-active April contract was little changed at $72.07 a barrel.

  • Brent for April settlement closed 0.3% higher at $76.04 a barrel.

. Read more on Markets by NDTV Profit.West Texas Intermediate traded near $72 a barrel after rising about 2% so far this week, while Brent crude closed above $76.  Read MoreMarkets, Business, Bloomberg 

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