Oil prices on Wednesday sharply rose by more than 1%. Investors are worried about an energy shortage as the driving season in the United States is approaching and China plans to ease lockdown restrictions.

At the time of writing the article, Brent crude futures for August increased by 1.26% to $112.08 per barrel. Yesterday, they gained 0.1%, hitting $113.56 per barrel.

WTI oil futures for July soared by 1.24% to $111.32 per barrel. A day earlier, these contracts sank by 0.5% to $109.77 per barrel.

Market participants are nourishing hopes that oil producers will maintain a balance of supply and demand in the market. The deteriorating situation with Russian oil supplies, the approaching driving season in America, as well as the normalization of the coronavirus situation in China are forcing analysts to make controversial forecasts about the commodity market.

On Wednesday, the US Department of Energy will publish weekly statistics on petroleum inventories. Traders are mainly interested in gasoline reserves because the travel season is ahead. Analysts believe that the US Department of Energy will report a decrease in oil inventories by 0.6 million barrels. Bides, this indicator has been dropping steadily since early February. Yesterday, the US Department of Energy announced its intention to sell another 40.1 million barrels of oil from its strategic oil reserve.

According to the American Petroleum Institute, US crude stocks rose by 567,000 barrels last week. Analysts had expected a rise of 690,000 barrels.

On Wednesday, traders assessed the decisive steps of European states on imposing an embargo on Russian oil. Earlier, the media reported that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that discussing the sanctions package at the level of leaders in the absence of a consensus would be counterproductive,