05.05.202219:16:00UTC+00Oil Futures Pare Some Gains As Dollar Rebounds

Crude oil futures settled higher on Thursday, continuing to benefit from the recent proposal by the European Union to impose sanctions on Russian oil.

After rising sharply higher, oil prices pared some gains as the dollar rebounded on safe haven buying.

The dollar index, which had tumbled on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell came out with a less hawkish tone, ruling out aggressive interest rate hikes, rose sharply to 103.94 today, a near 20-year high.

West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended higher by $0.45 or about 0.4% at $108.26 a barrel, well off the day's high of $111.37 a barrel.

Brent crude futures were up $0.68 or 0.6% at $110.82 a barrel a little while ago.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, collectively known as OPEC+, today agreed on a small production increase for June.

The group decided to raise production targets by 432,000 barrels per day for next month, sticking to an existing strategy of gradually unwinding record supply cuts.